A Look At The Ryder Cup's Old-Fashioned Leaderboard
CHASKA, Minn. (WCCO) -- With so many electronic boards and big screen TVs towering over Hazeltine, fans are always in the loop of the leaders.
So it's nice to see golf's got a soft spot for the old-fashioned, where scores are simple numbers and pairings are put up by hand.
Lyle Koski is a volunteer working the leaderboard on number 8, where his job is part cheerleader and part informer.
"It's just fun," Koski said. "Everybody says you shouldn't play with the crowd, just put it up and take it down, but when you put it up there it's just cheering. It's already happened maybe 10, 20 seconds ago."
But when they see the score in big bold numbers, they roar once again -- clear and convincing evidence.
"We already heard the roar on the course, we heard the roar of the people watching the Jumbotron and then the people cheer again when they see the number there," Koski said. "It's like it becomes real once you see it in there. It's exciting, it's fun."
Golf fans and techies alike tend to agree.
"Everything is so electronic these days," Doug Nugent said. "We can play golf without electricity, right? So we've got a leaderboard that'll work without electricity, it's kind of nice."
Just don't blame Koski if it doesn't fall your way.
Of course, technology does play a part in it. Volunteers like Koski get their hole-by-hole scores with the aid of handheld computers.
