Eric Liu, golf course senior manager at Discovery Bay Golf Club in Lantau Island, Hong Kong, is one of several volunteers helping prepare for the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black Golf Course. Photo by Howard Richman
Some of the biggest names this week at Bethpage Black Golf Course include Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm. They’re the global talent out front at the 45th Ryder Cup, which begins in earnest Friday at the Black Course in Farmingdale, N.Y. But don’t discount the skilled people working behind the scenes.
This includes people like Eric Liu, one of several turfgrass professionals who have traveled across oceans and time zones to join the volunteer crew for Bethpage Director of Agronomy Andrew Wilson and Black Course Superintendent Michael Hadley.
“I’m so happy I can be here. Whatever they want me to do, I can do. I can do any job, willing to do any job,” says Liu, a six-year GCSAA International member who is the golf course senior manager at Discovery Bay Golf Club in Lantau Island, Hong Kong.
Liu, who oversees Platinum paspalum greens and Tifway 419 bermudagrass fairways and rough, has experience on American soil. Twenty years ago, he interned for Paul L. Latshaw at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, and returned in 2016 to volunteer at the Memorial Tournament. Whether he comes to enhance his golf skills in Ohio or this week in New York, Liu doesn’t waste the opportunity.
“I talk to others how they maintain their turf. I want to talk to people, get new ideas,” says Liu, whose facility has 27 holes in Hong Kong, which only has a handful or so of golf courses. “I try to learn anything new.”
So does Nick Bell. He’s superintendent at Medinah Country Club No. 3 in Medinah, Ill. Bell, a four-year association member, was in middle school when Medinah hosted the Ryder Cup in 2012. Serving this week at the Black Course is good preparation for what’s coming soon to Medinah CC, which will host the Presidents Cup in 2026.
“It means a lot to me to help out on tournaments like this, learn about setup, how they handle their (maintenance) schedule,” Bell says.
Peter Frank, a trades generalist in the maintenance shop at Bethpage, has plenty of experience with big-time golf scenarios. Frank started at Bethpage in 1988, left for a few years, and returned in 1993. Over the last 20-plus years, Frank worked two U.S. Opens, beginning in 2002, a PGA Championship and other PGA Tour events.
“I sleep here in my 2018 Dodge pickup truck for the week,” Frank says. “In 2002, championships were new for us, a bit overwhelming, a lot of moving parts. Now, it’s like old hat. But still a challenge.”
Liu says he once considered becoming an engineer. Instead, he went to work for five years at a golf course in China and never looked back. Now, as he nears his 50th birthday, he says being part of the Ryder Cup makes his career path feel worthwhile. “I think I made the right choice,” Liu says.
Howard Richman is GCM’s associate editor.