PGA Sign Guy

Thursday, August 2nd 2007, 4:50 pm

By: News On 6

The trickle of PGA visitors will be a flood by the end of this weekend. A small army of workers at Southern Hills is getting everything ready for both players and fans. The News On 6â€™s Rick Wells reports none of those folks will know which way to turn without the guy who tells everyone where to go.

Getting ready for a major golf tournament is hard work. There are thousands of flowers to be planted, 20,000 actually. Emily Beier from Bartlesville is one of the summer interns who's doing the work, not only planting but caretaking too.

"We water everyday for about three and a half hours," PGA intern Emily Beier said.

Lots of flowers need lots of water. There's a crew building a special entrance too. Visitors will go through the gates then onto the course. More painting and planting flowers will fill in the area by Sunday.

Once on the course signs will guide you where to go. Those signs are the responsibility John McGraw, who gets to tell everyone where to go.

"Everything that has a picture on it, a logo on it, a letter on it, numbers on it, you did it?" asked News On 6 reporter Rick Wells.

"We did it," PGA sign guy John McGraw said.

McGraw has been the PGA picture, logo, letter, number guy since 1989. His company, Event Solutions, is out of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. He works out of a trailer at the course where they produce the smaller signs; the big ones are printed in Wisconsin and shipped to Tulsa.

McGraw says his sign making started as a part-time job in the summer, now being home in the summer is the part-time job. But think of all the beautiful golf courses, itâ€™s a great job for a guy who loves the game.

"Some of the most beautiful courses in the world, and never get to play," said McGraw.

But he does get to tell everybody where to go.

Jon McGraw's crew also put out 6,000 feet of white picket fence. Also on the course, there are 20 miles of gallery rope attached to 3,000 stakes which keep the fans back and give the golfers room to play.

To learn more about the 89th PGA Championship, including where to park, click here.

Watch the video: Cutting Down On Frustration At The PGA