01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, June 25, 2006

BY PAUL KENYON
Journal Sports Writer

EAST PROVIDENCE -- It was shortly after 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon, and Wannamoisett Country Club was emptying out.

The announcement just about everyone expected -- that the course was too wet to play and competition for the day in the Northeast Amateur was called off -- had just been made by Joe Sprague Jr., the executive director of the Rhode Island Golf Association.

While caddies were cleaning and stowing clubs, and players were making plans to go out to dinner, Mark Daniels, Wannamoisett's new superintendent, was in his office below the pro shop. Going home was the last thing on his mind.

"We're making plans to have someone here most of the night so we can continue pumping," Daniels related. "We'll work in shifts."

Talk about a long day at the office. Daniels was talking about he and his staff working through the night. And, by the way, what time did you get to the course today, he was asked.

"About 3:30," he responded.

That's 3:30 a.m. That meant he had already been at work more than 12 hours. And, with the rain pelting down, his task was not going to get any easier, but he had extra help.

"My wife (Christie) is even out there helping," Daniels said. "She likes it. She was here helping Wednesday, too."

Such is the life of a golf course superintendent. The constant rain has made life miserable all year and there is no letup in sight.

"This is pretty comparable to what we just had in the last big rain event, a week and a half or so ago," Daniels said. "We were pretty wrecked from that one. We finally mowed the last couple fairways that we hadn't mowed in probably a week and three-quarters. We just mowed those Wednesday. Now we're going right back again."

Daniels is learning quickly about Wannamoisett. But he knows what the job is like. He grew up on a farm in Ohio, graduated from Ohio State and worked for the last three years at famed Oak Hill in Rochester. His first year there Oak Hill hosted the PGA.

"It was a busy year, working 80 to 100 hours a week through the entire summer with basically no days off from March to September," he said. "It's good training. I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

While Wannamoisett has won much praise through the years, under superintendents Mark Richard, Neil Wendell and Jim Medeiros, as one of the best conditioned courses in the country, Daniels is taking the care of the course to another level.

"We have an internship program. We have six here. We're providing housing for four of them," he said. The interns come from Rutgers, Ohio State, UMass and URI, and one is and a kid from Scotland through an exchange program with Ohio State.

Wannamoisett, with its sandy soil, drains pretty well, Daniels said.

"But rain events like this, it just can't handle," he said. The middle of the course, from the second and fourth holes, across the fairways at 1, 9, 10 and 11, is where the water shows up most. That's where the pumps were already on yesterday afternoon and hopefully were to run through the night.

Even with all the work, Daniels knew it might not be enough. Completing the tournament today is still doubtful.

"It depends how much more we have coming behind this system," Daniels said. "If we don't have any more rain tonight, I think we can definitely do it. But it if there is more heavy stuff coming, it's pretty bleak."

pkenyon@projo.com / (401) 277-7340