“As a little kid from Sag Harbor my life has been a real fairy tale,” Bob Bubka, the internationally known pro golf radio broadcaster, said during a conversation this week.

Radio’s “Voice of Golf,” who lives now in Houston, traced his eventful career to two fortuitous breaks that occurred about a half-century ago. “In 1963, I volunteered to go to the Air Force’s base in Thule, Greenland — the inducement being that if you went there you’d get out three months early.”

While at Thule, Bubka joined the Armed Forces Radio staff, and, just before he was to be released from the service, learned from his mother that a new radio station, WLNG, was about to open in Sag Harbor. 

Back in civilian life, he joined WLNG as a news reporter — and as Marv Albert’s replacement as East Hampton High School’s football announcer. 

“I never had a real desire when I was growing up to be on radio — it just happened,” Bubka said.

Nor had he from an early age been a golf fan. Basketball had been his first love. “I loved playing the sport and I was on Pierson’s varsity team, which Bob Vishno coached, by the time I was in ninth grade. But one day, probably when I was 12 years old, my father [Stanley] took me out to the Sag Harbor Golf Course to play and I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed it so much that I’d ride my bike from our house on Jermain Avenue with my clubs every day to play.”

A nine-hole course at that time, Sag Harbor was notable for the fact that its greens were made of sand heavily packed down with oil to provide a smooth putting surface. On a hot day the strong odor of oil wafted along the informal Barcelona Neck course, which is surrounded by a dense stand of oaks. (By the early 1990s the sand greens had been replaced by natural grass.)

“I miss those sand greens,” said Bubka, whose family owned Sag Harbor’s Madison Market for several decades. “Anyone who grew up playing there knows what I mean.”

He was stirred by his newfound passion to urge Vishno to start a team at Pierson, which he did. “Bob was very supportive, and by my senior year we had a team. Trouble was, I was the only one on it. Needless to say, it wasn’t easy securing matches with other schools.”

About 20 years into his career, he began to specialize in golf reporting and broadcasting, working initially with the legendary voice of Notre Dame football, Al Wester, for Mutual Radio Broadcasting, an association that ultimately led to play-by-play coverage at all of the best tournaments.

By 1995, Bubka, who continues to file regular golf reports for WLNG, was named the voice of golf for Tournament Radio Broadcasting and World Golf Radio, covering the P.G.A. tour and major golf events worldwide. In 2000, he was named talkSPORT’s voice of golf in the United Kingdom, the largest sports radio station in the world. He remains with these media outlets, and has, for the past eight years, been the co-host, as well, of “The Grill Room Golf Show” (thegrillroom.net).

He’ll be broadcasting for all of the above from the U.S. Open, which is to be played from June 14 through 17 at Shinnecock Hills in Southampton.

He’s not ready to predict a winner just yet. “There are so many talented players who can win it. While he’s not playing that well now, few are better than Dustin Johnson when he’s on his game. I also like Brandt Snedeker too, an excellent putter. Putting will be the key at Shinnecock.”

Speaking of predictions, Bubka’s anointing of Lucas Glover — who had never made the cut before — before the 2009 U.S. Open reportedly set off a betting frenzy in Ireland, shortening Glover’s odds from 175-1 to 11-8 on the final day. Paddy Power, a legal betting company in that country, reportedly lost the equivalent of $1.6 million as a result. 

“We’re hoping Bob gets a bad case of laryngitis before the British Open and keeps his mouth shut,” a Paddy Power spokesman told talkSPORT radio at the time.

“Yeah, that certainly made some noise for sure,” he recalled.

The Sag Harbor native over the years formed longstanding friendships with a number of golf greats, Arnie Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Tiger Woods among them. 

“I was in Southampton Hospital a few years ago, and the phone rings. The person on the other end said, ‘Hi, it’s Tiger.’ I thought someone was playing a joke on me. He kept repeating it, though, and I finally realized it was him. He just wanted to see how I was doing and wished me the best. When I told the doctors and nurses, they thought I was delusional and wanted to give me some medication. . . . That was very special.”

He looks forward to seeing Nicklaus at the coming U.S. Open. “Jack and his wife, Barbara, are two of the nicest people I know, solid people who put friends and family first. Arnold Palmer was also very special, a warm person too. I remember interviewing him at Oakmont. It was his last U.S. Open as a player and he was crying at the end of his final round when I spoke with him. I started to cry too — it was very emotional.”

“So, as I said, it’s been a fairy tale. I never would have ever dreamed how my life has turned out. I’m beyond lucky, I’m blessed to have been able to do what I’ve done.”

Despite having played some of the most exclusive and famous golf courses in the world, Bubka’s first choice to play a final round is Sag Harbor.

“I would love to play 18 holes there,” he said in parting, “but I’d want the sand greens to be back.”

The East Hampton High School boys tennis and boys and girls track seasons continue, though it’s all over for baseball, softball, and boys and girls lacrosse, none of these teams having finished with playoff-caliber records.

East Hampton’s track teams, coached by Yani Cuesta and Ben Turnbull, played host to the East End Classic invitational Saturday — a meet at which Kal Lewis, a Shelter Island sophomore, ran the 1,600 in 4 minutes and 18.31 seconds, the fastest mile ever run here, eclipsing the 4:24 East Hampton’s Artie Fisher ran in 1988. 

Surprisingly, it wasn’t a “P.R.” for Lewis, who had run a 4:15 at the St. Anthony’s invitational the week before, a time that ranks him third in the state, and second in Suffolk, at the moment. 

Ryan Fowkes, a Bonac junior, was the runner-up to Lewis in the 1,600, in 4:30.91. It should be added that Fowkes had the week before run a 4:26.16 at St. A’s, so when it comes to Fisher’s school record Fowkes is in the running. A teammate of his, Robert Weiss, won both the 100 and 200-meter dashes Saturday, in 11.34 and 23.33 seconds. Another Bonacker, Ruben Santana, won the shot-put, in 37-4, and, on Friday, Matt Maya amassed 2,534 points in winning the pentathlon, “second-best in the county,” according to Turnbull.

The 800 was won by another Shelter Islander, Joshua Green, the son of that team’s coach, Toby Green. Interestingly, Shelter Island has no track on which to train — they run on the roads over there.

Frank Bellucci won the 800 and 400 intermediate hurdles in freshman-sophomore competition, and Matthew DiSunno was the runner-up in the freshman-sophomore shot-put.

As for East Hampton’s girls, Helen Barranco won the discus and was third in the shot-put, and Jimi Kramer was second in the 1,500-meter race walk.

The results were far better in freshman-sophomore contests. East Hampton swept the 1,500 with Ava Engstrom, Bella Tarbet, and Penelope Greene. Tarbet and Engstrom finished one-two in the 3,000. Megan Fowkes won the race walk, Isabella Espinoza won the pole vault, and Mikela Junemann, in the 400 hurdles, Molly Mamay, in the 100 hurdles, Ellie Borzilleri, in the long jump, and Lillie Minskoff, in the 200, were runners-up.

Besides East Hampton and Shelter Island, the meet was contested by teams from Greenport, Hampton Bays, Mattituck, Port Jefferson, the Ross School, Sayville, and Southampton.

“I think the meet is becoming more competitive every year,” said Cuesta. “It’s so nice to see it grow. We had some rain, but it wasn’t too bad. We couldn’t have pulled it off without lots of help, including Damien O’Donnell’s food truck, which served athletes, coaches, officials, and spectators.”

As for the tennis team, Kevin McConville, its coach, thinks it has a good draw in the county team tournament, which was to have begun this week. East Hampton is the fifth seed among 24 teams. Should it reach the semifinal round, it would go to the state tournament, said McConville, who wondered if an East Hampton boys team had ever gone before. 

Scott Rubenstein, when questioned, said there had been no state team tournament when his sons, Matt and Brian, led East Hampton to a county championship in 2004. That team went undefeated, said Rubenstein, who is the managing partner at East Hampton Indoor Tennis.

Individually, East Hampton’s singles and doubles entrants did not fair particularly well in the county individual tournament, which, like the division tournament, was contested at William Floyd High School. Alex Weseley and Jamie Fairchild, East Hampton’s top doubles team, lost a three-setter in the first round. Jonny De Groot, Bonac’s number-one, was ousted in the second round; Ravi MacGurn, the number-two, lost in the first round. Ditto Luke Louchheim, the number-three, who drew Westhampton Beach’s Danny Tocco in the first round, losing to him in straight sets.

Back to track, the division championships are to be contested next week. The girls are to compete Monday and Wednesday at Connetquot High School, the boys on Tuesday and next Thursday at Hampton Bays. The state qualifier meet, for boys and girls, is to be held at Comsewogue High on June 1 and 2.

Recapping the spring records, boys tennis was a co-champion, with Westhampton, in league competition, finishing at 9-1. Boys lacrosse, a combined team based at Southampton, finished at 5-9; softball finished at 7-11, baseball ended the season at 3-15 (sweeping Amityville in its final series), girls lacrosse posted a 2-12 record, girls track won one meet, and boys track went winless.

The Old Montauk Athletic Club’s Montauk Mile cup, which was introduced to that revived race from the train station to Lions Field last year, is hereafter to be known as the Montauk Mile John F. Conner Cup in honor of the 83-year-old former mile and half-mile world record-holder, who, because of a stroke, walks with difficulty now.

“We want to acknowledge him,” said Mike Bottini, whose idea it was, “because when it comes to the mile he’s the guy.”

In an interview in these pages a few years ago, Conner, who has continued to mentor and follow the progress of young runners here, said, “Glenn Cunningham, a great miler of the ’40s, once said, ‘Running is you against yourself . . . the cruelest of competitors.’ ”

“To make a runner takes five years, sometimes longer. I tell the kids who come to my workouts that I’m not out to make them faster, I’m out to make them stronger so that they can get more glucose and oxygen to their muscles. . . . You want to get into as much stress as you can handle and then equalize things so you have enough oxygen to remove the lactic acid, which is what makes you tired. If you’re in shape, you can, in the shorter distances, continue at your pace despite oxygen debt . . . you can win that struggle against yourself.”

“Before Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile in 1954, everyone was saying it never could be done, that it would take too much energy, create too much lactic acid, and that the body couldn’t do it. Bannister knew he could do three laps in three minutes and he told himself not to think about the fourth. In that fourth lap he was beyond the physical, in a different realm, a spiritual realm if you will.”

Kevin Barry, who made the presentation, as Conner sat in a high-backed wicker chair amid a number of well-wishers, including his wife, Henrika, recited some of his feats, first and foremost his 55-to-59-year-old world-record times of 2 minutes and 10.62 seconds in the 800 and 4:53.3 in the mile set in 1990, and the age-group world record in the 1,500 that he ran in Reno in 1995. At 50, he ran New York’s Fifth Avenue Mile in 4:40.1.

At the turn of the millennium, Conner’s running career was cut short when a truck struck him from behind as he was cycling in East Hampton Village.

Undaunted by a shattered hip, which was put back together with screws and flanges by one of the country’s best orthopedic surgeons, he went on to become a top age-group triathlete, and, as aforesaid, to mentor runners young and old here.

“When I was 50, I asked him if he could get me down to a sub-5,” said Bottini. “I was just coming off training for Ironman, which is a completely different thing. I didn’t get it, but it was no fault of John’s that I’d lost my fast-twitch muscles. . . . Definitely, he was a world-class runner.”

The Montauk Mile is to be contested, rain or shine, on Sunday, June 10, with the women’s race to begin at 10:30 a.m. and the men’s to follow at 11. Prospective entrants can register by emailing [email protected] entry fee is $25 for those over 21 and $15 for those under 21. Those fees will be $30 and $20 on race day. The winners’ names are to be engraved on the cup. The proceeds are to help underwrite an East Hampton High School boys and girls cross-country team trip to a competitive invitational meet next fall.

Henrika Conner and Sharon McCobb, OMAC’s president, said, moreover, that a scholarship for a senior high school swimmer is to be established by the club in the memory of the late Bill O’Donnell, who died, at the age of 65, on April 23.

“Swimming was Billy’s passion at the end,” said McCobb.

“We’re going to try to give the first one at the high school’s senior athletes banquet” on June 7, Henrika Conner said.

Synchronized Swimming

Meg Preiss reported Monday that Greer Costello won the solo and figures events in her age group at the Region B synchronized swimming championship meet in Phoenixville, Pa., this past weekend. As a result, Greer, Preiss said, “will compete against the top 45 soloists in the country the last week in June.”

A teammate of Costello’s, Kassidy Brabant, a first-year competitor, placed sixth in solo in the intermediate division.

Men’s Slow-Pitch Returns

Men’s slow-pitch softball returned to the Terry King ball field in Amagansett Monday night following a five-year absence. According to Andy Tuthill, there are 10 teams in the revived league. Terry King has been utterly redone, and, according to Tuthill, “looks as good as it did when my dad played.” Rob Nicoletti, who is to pitch for the Corner Bar, one of three Sag Harbor entries, will arguably be the league’s senior player.

Thursday, May 17

BOYS TENNIS, county team tournament, second round, (12) Sachem at (5) East Hampton, 4 p.m.

Friday, May 18

BOYS TENNIS, county team tournament, quarterfinal round, tentative, (5) East Hampton at (4) Half Hollow Hills West, 4 p.m.

Saturday, May 19

TRAIL RUNNING, Hither Hills Half-Marathon, Ed Ecker County Park, Navy Road, Montauk, 8 a.m.

YOUTH RUGBY, tentative, Bishop Loughlin vs. Section XI Rugby Academy, Mattituck High School, 2 p.m.

Sunday, May 20

RUNNING, Wolffer Estate Bud Break 5K, Wolffer Estate wine stand, 3312 Montauk Highway, Sagaponack, 9 a.m.

Monday, May 21

GIRLS TRACK, East Hampton at division meet, Connetquot High School, 3 p.m.

Tuesday, May 22

BOYS TRACK, East Hampton at division meet, Hampton Bays High School, 3 p.m.

Wednesday, May 23

RUNNING, Bonac on Board to Wellness 5K, Reutershan Parking Lot, East Hampton, 9 a.m.

GIRLS TRACK, East Hampton at division meet, Connetquot High School, 3 p.m.

MEN’S SOCCER, 7-on-7 league, Tortorella Pools vs. Sag Harbor United, 6:30 p.m.; F.C. Tuxpan vs. Maidstone Market, 7:25, and Hampton F.C.-Pool Shark vs. Bonac F.C., 8:20, Herrick Park, East Hampton. 

While its playoff chances seem to be dim — presumably because of recent losses at the hands of Class-A Islip, Southampton, and Kings Park — East Hampton High’s softball team has nevertheless been competitive this season, as it showed in Saturday’s game here with Kings Park, which prevailed 3-1.

As for the Class A playoffs, which are to begin with an outbracket game Monday, the top nine in the power-rated League VII are to go, a list that as of Monday comprised East Islip, Sayville, Mount Sinai, Miller Place, Islip, Hauppauge, Kings Park, Westhampton Beach, and Hampton Bays. East Hampton, whose record was 7-9 as of Monday, is to play East Islip, the once-defeated league leader, here today. It will wind up the regular season here with Mattituck tomorrow, during which the team’s half-dozen seniors are to be feted.

The good news for Kathy Amicucci’s charges this past week was a come-from-behind 7-6 win at McGann-Mercy in Riverhead on May 1. 

“It made me anxious, but the girls worked together, hit the ball, and played well,” Amicucci said. 

East Hampton was trailing 6-3 going into the top of the sixth inning, but a two-out rally capped by Maddie Schenck’s double to the centerfield fence tied the score at 6-6. Mercy didn’t score in its half of the inning, and, in the top of the seventh, Bella Swanson, the shortstop, hit a leadoff home run over the fence in right center, treating the Bonackers to the lead, at 7-6. Mercy made a pitching change then, avoiding any further damage.

“We got out of a tough spot in Mercy’s seventh,” said Amicucci. “They had the bases loaded with two outs, but Katrina [Osterberg, the third baseman], after fielding a grounder hit her way, stepped on third for the final out.”

A 1-0 loss at Southampton on Friday hurt. “We didn’t hit — Sam [Merritt, the pitcher] was the only one, with a double and a single.” 

“She kept mowing us down,” said Rich Swanson, when asked about Samantha Wesnofske, the Mariners’ pitcher, who wound up with 17 strikeouts. “It wasn’t just risers,” said Swanson. “It was curves, fastballs, everything.”

Southampton’s run was unearned, Amicucci added.

The game here with Kings Park was scoreless through the first three innings, but the visitors went ahead 3-0 in the top of the fourth, thanks to a double, a bunt single, and, with two outs and the count 0-2, a two-run double into the gap in right center — a pitch that Merritt undoubtedly would have liked to have had back. A subsequent throwing error by Osterberg enabled Kings Park’s third run to come home. 

Kings Park’s pitcher gave up her first hit, a single up the middle by Schenck, in the bottom half of the inning. Merritt, the next batter, hit a fly toward the right field line that looked as if it might curve out of the right fielder’s reach, but she made a nice one-handed catch, after which Ella Gurney, the first baseman, popped out to the second baseman, stranding Schenck at first.

The visitors had runners at second and third with one out in the top of the fifth, but a fly to center was caught by Rebecca Kuperschmid and Bella Swanson gathered in a pop fly hit her way to take Kings Park out of the inning.

East Hampton loaded the bases with one out in the bottom half of the fifth, but couldn’t come up with a big blow, though one run came home when Kuperschmid drew a full-count walk. That brought up Schenck, with the bases still loaded, and two outs. East Hampton’s catcher worked the count full, but popped up the next offering, a changeup, that the first baseman squeezed.

Gurney, with one out in the sixth, raised Bonac fans’ hopes when she drove a pitch deep to center field, but, with the wind blowing in slightly, the ball was caught. Sophia Ledda then popped out to second on a 3-1 pitch.

The bottom of the seventh proved to be uneventful as Osterberg, facing a 3-2 pitch, was called out on strikes, Raven Biondo struck out swinging on a 3-2 pitch, and Sophia Swanson, with the count 1-2, also fanned the breeze.

Kings Park finished with three runs on eight hits, East Hampton with one run on three hits. Kings Park’s pitcher struck out 12 and walked four. Merritt walked two and struck out one. The Bonackers committed two errors, Kings Park none.

Jonny De Groot, who plays number-one on East Hampton High’s boys tennis team, was to have played Center Moriches’s Mike Koscinski, the top seed, Monday afternoon, for third place in Division IV’s singles draw, while two East Hampton doubles teams, Alex Weseley and Jamie Fairchild and Matthew McGovern and Miles Clark, were to have fought it out for third place among the division’s doubles teams. The top four in each draw advance to the county individual tournament that is to begin tomorrow.

Luke Louchheim, East Hampton’s number-three, who is an eighth grader and was unseeded, pulled off an upset in the first round, defeating the fourth seed, Nate Hanley of Rocky Point, in a three-setter, and began his quarterfinal match with Westhampton Beach’s number-two, Josh Kaplan, the fifth seed, in promising fashion Saturday morning at William Floyd High School.

But, according to Kevin McConville, East Hampton’s coach, after Louchheim had sailed through the first set at 6-0, hitting well from the baseline, things tightened up in the second set as Kaplan began to play more conservatively, “returning the ball over the middle rather than going for winners and letting Luke make the errors.”

Things became even tighter, as it were, McConville said, when, midway through the second set, following an “out” call by Louchheim at the baseline, a close call, but one with which he agreed, “the kid’s father came over from where the Westhampton parents had been, about 10 yards away, and said if I didn’t correct Luke’s ‘cheating,’ he would beat me up in front of my kids. I was sitting at the time with Jamie, Matthew, and Miles. There were no parents around, just me and my kids.”

In a subsequent report to East Hampton’s athletic director, Joe Vas, McConville said the Westhampton player’s father and a friend of his then sat directly behind him, and, when he asked them to “please leave us alone and let the kids work it out,” refused.

“Meanwhile, Josh and Luke were trying to figure out the score, whether it was 30-15 or 30-30,” McConville said during a conversation concerning the incident at Hampton Racquet, where he is the head pro, Monday morning. “Josh’s father said — correctly as it turned out — that it was 30-30, but he shouldn’t have been involved at all. I told him he couldn’t do that, but he persisted. Again they threatened to beat me up.” 

“I was scared these guys were going to follow through on their threats,” McConville continued in his report to Vas, “so I asked the tournament director [Mike Huey of Mattituck] to have them removed, explaining exactly what had happened. He did nothing. . . . Josh took the lead and then won the set. That’s when they walked away.” 

Kaplan, who, McConville said, “played smart,” went on to win the third set too, with relative ease.

Vas said Monday morning that he planned to pursue McConville’s allegations.

He had seen parents who had behaved similarly ejected from gyms during high school basketball games, McConville said, adding that “it’s the right thing to do in order to remove a physical threat. I was still scared when the men walked past me when I was heading alone to the bus an hour later.”

Back to the other matches, De Groot got by his teammate, Ravi MacGurn, East Hampton’s number-two, 2-6, 7-6, 6-2 to reach the semifinals, where he lost in straight sets to the second seed, Danny Tocco, Westhampton’s top singles player. Kaplan and Tocco were to have played in Monday’s singles final.

After winning quarterfinal matches, Bonac’s doubles teams both lost in the semis. McConville said he hadn’t paid much attention initially to Weseley and Fairchild’s match “because I’d thought they’d win it, but they were tight and wound up losing.”

In Tuesday’s matches De Groot lost 6-2, 6-3 to Koscinski and Wesley and Fairchild defeated McGovern and Clark 6-2, 6-2. 

The county individual tournament’s matches are to be played at William Floyd also, tomorrow, Saturday, and Monday.

The county team tournament, whose seedings hadn’t been arrived at as of earlier this week, is to begin with matches at the higher-seeded teams Tuesday.

Ryan Fowkes ran the fastest mile that’s been run here in 30 years at the St. Anthony’s invitational track meet Saturday, and on Monday the baseball team snapped what its coach, Vinny Alversa, said was a 51-game losing streak at Amityville, a school whose program has also been struggling in the past few years.

East Hampton, with Kurt Matthews having come on in relief of Jackson Baris in the first inning — Baris having sustained a foot injury while batting — defeated Amityville 6-2. The Warriors were to have played here yesterday, but Alversa said that given A.P. testing today, he was trying to switch it to an away game, with Amityville to come here for the season finale this afternoon.

Matthews gave up three hits, walked none, and struck out 12 over the course of 6 2/3 innings. One of Amityville’s runs was unearned.

Matthews was quoted in Newsday as having said, “It feels so good to get a W. It’s a weight off all of our shoulders. But to our credit, we’ve never given up and always supported one another. Our coaches have been positive and continue to pick us up.”

As a result, East Hampton improved to 1-15 on the season, and Amityville fell to 0-16. Its losing streak stood at 60 games as of Monday.

“All the teams in our league, except us and Amityville, made the playoffs,” Alversa said.

Fowkes, a junior, who said after winning the Katy’s Courage 5K in Sag Harbor recently that he’d like to lower his 4:30 mile time by about 10 seconds, shaved almost four seconds off at St. A’s, running the distance in 4:26.16. Ben Turnbull, East Hampton’s coach, wondered if it were a school record, but apparently Artie Fisher, who ran a 4:24 in 1988, still holds it.

Fowkes, moreover, P.R.’d in the 800 at the Westhampton Beach invitational two weeks ago, placing second in 1:59.89, “the fifth-fastest time in the county,” according to Turnbull. His 1,600 time ranks him 11th countywide in that event at the moment.

Turnbull added that Matthew Maya’s 61.44 in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles at Westhampton and the 17.49 he did in the 100 high hurdles at St. Anthony’s were personal bests. In addition, Eamon Spencer ran a personal-best 2:04.30 in the 800 at St. Anthony’s, and, at the same meet, said Turnbull, the 4-by-400 relay team’s 3:36.13 was “the 15th fastest time in the county.” Maya, Spencer, Fowkes, and Robert Weiss made up that team.

East Hampton’s girls team also had good news this week, stemming from last Thursday’s 79-70 loss to Shoreham Wading-River. 

Among Bonac’s winners were Ellie Borzilleri, in the 400 and long jump; Molly Mamay, in the 100 high hurdles; Ashley Peters, in the 100; Mikela Junemann, in the 400 intermediate hurdles, long jump, and, with Peters, Jen Ortiz, and Lillie Minskoff, in the 4-by-100 relay, and Helen Barranco, in the discus.

Among the runners-up were Ortiz, in the triple jump; Mimi Fowkes, in the 1,500-meter racewalk; Peters, in the 200; Mamay, in the 400 hurdles; Malena Inchauspe and Zoe Leach, in the high jump; Michelle Barranco, in the discus, and the 4-by-400 relay team of Ava Engstrom, Bella Tarbet, Lateshia Peters, and Borzilleri.

Yani Cuesta, the team’s coach, said that, moreover, the following posted season-bests: Anissa Santiago and Inchauspe, in the long jump; Leach, in the 100 hurdles; Penelope Greene, in the 1,500; Tiffany Lewis, Anna Carman, and Abigail McKenzie, in the 100 and 200; Joyce Arbia, in the 800; Katherine Pineda and Jenna Scalia, in the 200; Michelle Barranco and Elizabeth Camacho, in the shot-put, and Nicole Gutierrez, in the discus.

Cuesta added that Engstrom and Tarbet “had personal record performances in the 2,000-meter steeplechase at the St. Anthony’s invitational, Ava with a 7:57.07 and Bella with an 8:08.30.”

East Hampton is to hold its own invitational meet Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m.

In a month, the sports world will be fixated on the 118th U.S. Golf Open, set to be played at the iconic Shinnecock Hills Golf Club during the week of June 11 through 17. One of the five founding member clubs of the United States Golf Association, Shinnecock Hills is playing host to its fifth U.S. Open.

As more than 9,000 hopefuls began vying this week in qualifying events for 90 berths in the Open’s 156-player field — one such was held at the Southampton Golf Club on Monday — the U.S.G.A. has also begun training the 4,500-plus volunteers who will staff the main event, including yours truly. 

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever possess the skill set to even think about entering the U.S. Open, though as a volunteer, and by walking among some of the greats of the game today, I ought to get a sense of what it might be like.

Selected to join the Leader Boards Committee a few months ago, I and about 50 others assigned to the same group underwent a training session on Saturday afternoon in what used to be Southampton College’s student union cafeteria. The campus, off Route 27, lies directly opposite the golf course. 

Leaderboard volunteers will be assigned to a specific hole, where the names of those who are playing it at the moment will be posted, along with their scores, on magnetic scoreboards staffed by two volunteers. A larger top-10 leaderboard will be manned by five people.

“Holding and setting up everything for the U.S. Open is a massive undertaking that takes several years,” said Jack Curtin, chairman of the 2018 U.S. Open championship, as he addressed our group. “We’ve had staff on the ground for more than 18 months here in Southampton preparing for the event.”

But Curtin cited the dedication and support of volunteers as the key to making such an attention-getting tournament successful. “We have nearly 5,000 volunteers from 49 states and 16 countries committed for the week, which amounts to over 90,000 volunteer hours,” he said. 

“U.S. Open volunteers are the true backbone of any successful event, and we want everyone to have fun too.”

Over the next four weeks, the U.S.G.A. will hold 22 other training sessions for the various committees involved in all stages of operations, including hospitality, hole marshals, ball position, caddy services, grandstand marshals, disability services admissions, fan services, and course evacuation, to name a few. (My wife has been assigned to the corporate hospitality tents alongside the eighth hole.) Volunteers not close enough to Shinnecock to attend training sessions will get a brief tutorial on the first day of their respective assignments at the on-site volunteer center.

The length of volunteer shifts varies by committee, but usually they’re four-hour shifts over four days. Volunteers are allowed to attend all seven days of golf for free, and are provided with Ralph Lauren golf attire, including shirts, windbreaker, hat, and water bottle at nominal fees. Four lunch vouchers are also included for each day served.

“I’ve volunteered at 10 U.S. Opens in the past,” said Fred Legodias of Centerport. “For me, it’s like a vacation, and my wife usually also volunteers, but can’t this time. One time I was on leaderboards at the Open at Winged Foot in 2006, and had to be on the stand for 14 hours as we were short on volunteers one day. But I didn’t mind, I just love doing it.” Legodias is already signed up to be a volunteer at the U.S. Open to be held at Pebble Beach in California next June.

“I love golf and I’m honored to be part of the Open,” said Joe Raynor, chairman of the Leader Boards Committee, who is a resident of North Sea. “I’m very thankful for all of those who volunteer and thus help to make the game of golf great. Shinnecock is such a special venue too, as every first-timer, I’m sure, will agree.”

Having started playing golf at the age of 4 at the Sag Harbor Golf Course, with its oiled sand greens, being part of the spectacle at Shinnecock is bound to be very special. That said, I doubt Tiger Woods will have the time to give me a quick lesson to improve my handicap.

May 13, 1993

Becky Cooper set two East Hampton High School records Tuesday in a girls track meet here with Mercy. Throwing into a slanting wind, the genial Bonac senior broke the discus record on her first try, unleashing a low throw of 101 feet, one-and-one-half inches that smashed Audine Franzone’s mark, set three years ago, by almost 10 feet.

In the shot, Cooper had to wait until her third try to set a record, her fifth in that event since last year. Her 36-21/4 heave bettered a mark she set earlier this season by three-quarters of an inch. The wind was at her back in this event, but East Hampton’s coach, Mark Sucsy, said, with a laugh, “There are wind-aided 100-meter dashes and 100-meter hurdles, but I don’t think there’s such a thing as a wind-aided shot-put.”

May 20, 1993

The East Hampton High School boys tennis team finished the league season undefeated last week as it rolled over Mercy and Riverhead with the loss of just two sets.

It was the first time East Hampton has had an undefeated boys tennis team since 1986. 

The East Hampton High School baseball team continued its streak last week, completing a sweep of Mercy and winning game one of its series with Mattituck. As of Tuesday, the team had won nine of its last 10 games, and seven in a row.

. . . As far as the players went, the week’s “headlines” pretty much were Ross Gload’s as the left-handed junior first baseman hit five home runs — putting him within one of tying Rich Cooney Jr.’s decade-old school record of 10 — and drove in 15. He also had two doubles.

May 27, 1993

Since Kevin Smith began managing the golf concession at Montauk Downs State Park in 1988, revenue has nearly doubled, the pro shop’s inventory has improved, and a variety of new golf programs have been introduced.

With that track record and a pledge to invest $220,000 in other improvements, Mr. Smith said he was confident his firm, Tee to Green Services, would win another five-year contract to manage the concession when the state asked for bids last fall.

Instead, Mr. Smith was stunned to learn late last year the contract for the period beginning in 1994 will be awarded to Fred Gipp, whose Aces and Birdies manages the West Sayville County Golf Course for the Suffolk Parks Department.

“They’re going to have to arrest me to get me out of this place,” said Smith, whose contract expires at the end of this year. He has appealed the state’s decision and is awaiting the results of the state comptroller’s review of the bidding procedure. — Stephen J. Kotz

Despite throwing more consistently than his Port Jefferson opponent, Mike Helbig, Larry Keller, East Hampton High’s candidate for the county championship in the discus throw, was the runner-up by a foot in that event at the first-ever Division III meet, held here Monday.

. . . Helbig’s win evened the series at 2-2 with Keller, who defeated his Port Jeff opponent in a dual meet here, and also in the recent county junior/senior meet. The two will meet again in the county meet at Bellport on June 4 and 5.

Besides Keller, Mike Burns, the team’s coach, will take to the countys his three pole-vaulters — Rob Balnis, who placed third in the division meet with a vault of 12 feet, Chris Minardi, and Ron Gatlin — and perhaps Rory Knight, a sophomore, who recently began competing in the high jump.

Gary Swanander, a 25-year-old East Hampton sports car racer, continues to lead the Sports Car Club of America’s northeast Formula Ford division, despite a second-place finish at the Bridgehampton Race Circuit Sunday to Doug Hobby, last season’s national runner-up, from Sharon, Conn.

“I’ll get him this weekend,” said Swanander, who has yet to beat the 15-year Formula Ford veteran. 

A former East Hampton High School miler, Swanander, who is a self-taught race car driver, passed Hobby three times in the 16-lap race around the 2.85-mile Bridgehampton loop. In the end, Hobby beat Swanander by a car length. The open-wheel sports cars averaged about 100 miles per hour, and reached speeds of 140 on the straight.