T-minus 100 days and counting: U.S. Women's Open

You’ve probably seen the ads, the billboards and the TV campaign. You will no doubt see and hear more in coming days, weeks and months.

Yes, the U.S. Women’s Open is coming. It was 100 days away Saturday.

For the folks at The Broadmoor, however, the ramp-up has gone on for a year. They’ve been selling, and meeting, and preparing — one man’s minutiae is another’s job — and even travelling to get ready.

“The biggest task is to turn The Broadmoor from a hotel, during one of its busiest times of the year, into a major golf championship,’’ said Laura Caleal, the sales director. “And do to it overnight.’’

Caleal was one of a three-person team dispatched to take in last year’s Open in Oakmont, Pa., to see how it’s done at another venue and apply the experience to the East Course for July 4-10.

The Broadmoor has recent experience hosting a major golf event, having hosted the U.S. Men’s Senior Open in 2008. But the time of the year is different and there have been some changes around the course.

“The experience does simplify it. But that’s one of the things the (U.S. Golf Association) does well, to come and see how other championship courses do it,’’ said Fred Dickman, golf course superintendent. “It’s not something you’re going to learn by opening up a textbook. It’s being there, talking to people and seeing how things are done.”

UPS has got nothing on these people when it comes to logistics.

“I was studying the flow more than anything else,” said Russ Miller, director of golf at The Broadmoor.

As in flow of people — players and gallery — from tee to green, clubhouse to grandstand, hospitality area to bathroom. And applying what he learned to more than 131,000 people (officials hope to break the 2005 record set by Cherry Hills) during the week.

For example, there are cottages on the 18th hole where cart barns existed in 2008. Those cottages will be hospitality venues during the event, and Caleal said about 100 businesses (a near sellout) will support the tournament.

“We used to be able to flow people through there, but we can’t do that this time,” Miller said.

So volunteers — and officials need fewer than 100 more to reach their goal of 3,000 — will rope off the bridge leading to the 18th green until players go through and fans can follow.

“We think we have a great game plan for that,’’ said Miller, a plan devised in part after watching Oakmont move people through that club’s trouble areas.

The planning has gone on all winter. Broadmoor officials covered some greens that will be used for the event to help protect the grass.

“The type of grass on our greens is not very cold-hearty and it’s not very heat-tolerant. But it makes a great putting surface,” Dickman said. “So getting through the winters is very challenging.’’

For the tournament, Dickman said he will have about 100 people working on the course (normally, he has 17). And they’ll do things like hand-water greens, to the exacting standards of the USGA.

“We’re a month earlier (than the Senior Open), so we’ve got to move everything up,” Dickman said.

And being a month earlier, as locals know, there always is the threat of thunderstorms.

“We have a very sophisticated program for getting players off the course, getting spectators off the course,” Miller said. “Hopefully, we don’t have any weather, but we have to be prepared in case we do.’’

It’s not just the 72 holes of competition the local group has to be concerned with. It’s players getting into and out of town, and meeting their needs for the event.

“And their entourages,” Caleal said. “You have young girls travelling with their families and other players with their kids, grandma and grandpa, so we’ll have some players that will request a private home to stay in.’’

That logistic comes naturally at The Broadmoor. “We handle all the player reservations, and do anticipate many of them staying here,’’ Caleal said.