For a college sports management major, practical experience doesn’t get much better than working a major American golf championship where 200,000 people are expected to come through the gate.
So when Dakharee Mann’s professor texted him last fall about the U.S. Golf Association’s Pathways internship program at the U.S. Open, he didn’t hesitate to apply.
“My brother works at a country club, so I’ve kind of been exposed to it a little bit through him, and my grandfather played golf,” said Mann, 19, who will be a sophomore this fall at Slippery Rock University.
Mann is one of 24 USGA Pathways interns who are rotating through different assignments all over the Oakmont Country Club each day.
On Monday, Mann was out with crews prepping the golf course at sunrise.
“That was my ‘shadowing’ experience,” he said. “I was helping out and got to see how they set things up, test the greens, test the fairways, and how they determine the way the course will play.”
Sissi Hai, 21, of Pittsburgh is an incoming senior at the University of Pittsburgh, majoring in marking and supply chain management. Hai and other interns got a crash course this week in the logistics and supply-chain coordination required to provide hospitality, catering, a positive fan experience and much more at a major sporting event.
“It’s been an amazing experience so far,” Hai said. “I’m not exactly sure what industry I want to get into and this is an opportunity for me to discover some of those possible career paths.”
Hai said she was very interested in learning more about the various partnerships between the USGA and companies like Cisco and Rolex.
“We got to learn about how their leadership teams prepare for the tournament,” she said. “We’ve learned about all the different departments within the USGA; it’s been really interesting.”
Kayona Perkins, 22, of Verona is a recent graduate of the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in management and sports management. She will be doing her shadowing day with the USGA’s corporate partnership group.
“I think we’re really privileged to be placed in front of some of these people,” she said. “This is kind of like a 10-day job interview. And so even with the hot weather and a tight schedule, you have to continue to be able to sell yourself, present yourself professionally and make the most of the experience.”
Mann, Hai and Perkins spent part of Thursday afternoon ringing up customers in the Fan Central merchandise tent.
“I’m about to be a sophomore, so this really opened up my eyes to a lot of different opportunities that I never thought about in sports,” Mann said.
As someone who never played golf, Perkins said she was struck by the sense of community within the sport.
“All of us in the internship program are different, from different places, so for the USGA to welcome us into the community and onto their team is a pretty special experience,” she said.