Pin King: Up Close at the Wells Fargo Championship
An insider’s view of the 17th hole at the Wells Fargo Championship
When the PGA Tour stops at the Quail Hollow Club on May 2, Ken Brown will have a rare view of the course. Brown, a 74-year-old First Union retiree, has volunteered for the Wells Fargo Championship since its inception in 2003. “I love golf,” he says. “[And] I like to be a part of something well-run.”
As co-captain of the 17th hole, the treacherous par-3 where “tournaments are won and lost,” Brown coordinates all of the volunteers needed for crowd control and witnesses championship-defining moments like Sergio Garcia’s loss of a one-stroke lead in 2005. His favorite memories, though, are personal, like the moment each year when Phil Mickelson comes over to talk to Brown’s now 19-year-old granddaughter, who attends the tournament in her wheelchair.
