San Benito High golfers carry leaderboards at Pebble Beach
Marcus Synegal got to bring a video game to life and, in the meantime, took a strut that makes legends.
The junior on San Benito High’s golf team noted how in the video-game version of golf, he had taken his shots at the historic, Pacific Coast-carved No. 18 at Pebble Beach.
This past weekend, like five other teammates this year who carried leaderboards at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Synegal walked the legendary fairway, this time in person, as he trailed pairings of celebrity and professional golfers at the annual tournament.
On Sunday, he worked the course and carried one of the many mobile scoreboards for the likes of Justin Leonard and Lee Janzen, both past winners of major championships.
“It was just crazy how you get to walk through all the fairways with the pros,” said Synegal, 16. “It was amazing.”
He was among San Benito’s golfers who finished in the top six in an annual team shootout held to decide who gets to volunteer at the tournament. The PGA event for many years, going back at least a decade, has invited a group of San Benito golfers to walk the course carrying leaderboards.
Either two of San Benito golfers go together or one goes alone and follows a grouping of players from a close distance – while paired with an official scorekeeper – and holds and changes the scores as play progresses.
At the end of the tournament, AT&T writes a check to San Benito High School for the students’ volunteer work and the money goes to the golf program, noted junior varsity coach Steve Kain.
Kain accompanied the group Sunday, as the team is required to have a coach there as a chaperone and make sure the student volunteers stay on task.
He observed how the team members get a chance to meet the pros, watch them play up-close and learn how they handle themselves – and at times ask for autographs of their favorites, too.
The PGA usually assigns them to golf groupings, but sometimes they get a chance to pick who they’ll be around throughout the day, Kain said.
“The kids get a real kick out of it,” he said. “You can learn a lot out there.”
San Benito junior Derell Aton carried Pebble Beach leaderboards for the second consecutive year. Being around the pros has taught him, mainly, to have a routine and always stay calm on the course when he’s playing.
Aton, 17, said the professional golfers even strike up conversation with the students from time to time – such as asking how old they are or how they’re holding up on the course.
Carrying the leaderboard, Aton said, can be tiring.
“That whole 18 holes – it’s not just a flat surface,” he said. “You’re going up and down all the elevations.”
Aton also said he’s learned something else being a veteran of the event now – how to “work the system” and get to “secret” areas to be around celebrities and pro golfers.
On the actual course, former NFL running back Emmitt Smith was the most famous person in a grouping of his.
And Synegal was pretty excited about carrying the leaderboard for Kevin Costner’s group Saturday.
“That was cool,” he said.
Also check out: more photos of students on the course in our
