NZ intern keeping close to world's best

Otago golfer Mark Brooks is working 18-hour days at an American course but says getting the chance to see the world's best players up close makes it all worthwhile.

Brooks (21) is spending a year on a greenkeeping internship at the exclusive Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, which this week hosts a tournament on the PGA Tour.

The former Otago Boys High School pupil and Kelvin Heights groundsman has had plenty of opportunities to gape at the cream of the international game.

"I saw Tiger Woods this morning. He whacked a ball on the ninth hole that landed near one of our sheds," Brooks told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.

"We walked over for a look and his ball was only about a metre away from us and he walked up to play it. That was awesome.

"I followed Sergio Garcia for a while as well and I also got pretty close to Danny Lee on the putting green."

Brooks said Quail Hollow had about 35 full-time grounds staff but that number had swelled to 75 for the Quail Hollow Championship.

He has been rising at 3.15am to mow greens and fairways, rake bunkers and do odd jobs around the 6800m course.

"The course is looking unbelievably good. Everything here is just done at such a higher level to anything else I've seen."

Brooks, who made his Otago debut in the interprovincial tournament in December, was accepted into the intern programme through Ohio State University.

He flew to Columbus, Ohio, on Easter Sunday, had an induction day at the college then flew to North Carolina, where he started work the next day.

Brooks is living in an apartment with three other interns - an Australian and two Americans - and is soaking up everything he can from his colleagues and bosses at the course.

"I just want to get experience at different golf courses. I'm not 100% sure what I'll do when the internship is over and I'm too busy at the moment to really think about it."

Quail Hollow was the region's elite course and cost $US115,000 ($NZ203,000) to join.

Grounds staff were able play on the par-72 course every Wednesday but he had been too busy working to pick up his clubs.