Gi
Giving
BACK
TO GOLF
A team of Virginians makes a regular
holiday out of U.S. Open volunteering
by ARTHUR UTLEY
C
all it a working vacation.
When the 117th United States Open
Championship commences in June at Erin
Hills Golf Club in Wisconsin, VSGA mem-
bers Larry Parpart and Jim Sangston—along
with their wives and five others—will be in attendance.
They’re not just ordinary fans, though.
For the eighth time since 2007, Parpart will serve as a
U.S. Open volunteer. In 2010, Sangston joined his friend
on the volunteer circuit, and soon, others followed, giving
Virginia a strong volunteer presence at the USGA’s most
prestigious championship.
“We really pay [the USGA] to let us come because we
get ourselves there, and we pay all our expenses,” said
Ann Sangston, Jim’s wife. “Each time we have gone some-
where, we have tacked on time usually at the beginning
[for exploring]. It’s a bigger vacation for us than going to
the beach.”
The Parparts and Sangstons have had up-close-and-per-
sonal views of some of the best courses in the U.S. Open
rotation, including Pebble Beach, Pinehurst, Oakmont
and Merion.
It’s no surprise their friends wanted to join in on
the fun.
From left to right:
Larry Parpart and wife
Gayle; Ann Sangston
and husband Jim.
vsga.org
CATCHING THE BUG
Parpart doesn’t recall why he and next-door neighbor
Ben Wilkerson decided to attend three of professional
golf’s four men’s major championships in 2005.
They were a trip to St. Andrews in Scotland shy of com-
peting the spectator grand slam that year. Parpart and
Wilkerson went to a practice round at The Masters. They
traveled to New Jersey in August for the PGA Champi-
onship at Baltusrol. The U.S. Open was at Pinehurst, and
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