Oakmont Country Club apprentices contribute to Sunnehanna grounds work
The 105 amateur golfers weren’t the only ones honing their skills at the par-70 Sunnehanna Country Club course this week.
Two interns participating in an apprentice program at Oakmont Country Club assisted the Sunnehanna grounds staff as it prepared the course throughout the 83rd Sunnehanna Amateur Tournament for Champions.
“It only took them about five minutes to fit right in with our staff,” said Mark Leppert, Sunnehanna Country Club grounds superintendent. “They are young guys who are just starting their careers in this business.”
Cade Hougland, of Kirkwood Community College in Iowa, and Chase Minnick, of Penn State University, are part of the apprentice program at Oakmont Country Club near Pittsburgh. Oakmont will host the U.S. Open for the 10th time in 2025.
“Oakmont has a program where they send all their interns to courses and tournaments to help out where they need it,” said Hougland, 20, who graduated this spring. “This experience has been awesome. It’s shown me the ropes of how a different occupation could be.”
Leppert said the two interns have provided valuable assistance in a variety of roles such as mowing, hand watering, bunker work and divot patching throughout the Sunnehanna Amateur, which played its third round Friday and will conclude Saturday.
“This is my first year at Oakmont,” said Minnick, 22, of Athens, Bradford County. “I’m still fairly new to the program, but I’m excited about the program.
“We’re going to do a lot and learn a lot. The culture there, I was really big on.”
His hometown roots influenced Hougland’s path to Pennsylvania from Iowa.
“The director of agronomy at Oakmont is an alum from Kirkwood, so we have a pretty good connection through him,” Hougland said. “I took an internship last year. They offered me a job and I came back this year.
“Goals-wise, I’m trying to be a superintendent somewhere.
“Short-term, I’m looking to finish at Oakmont through the U.S. Open, go to an assistant job somewhere and move up the ranks.”
Minnick intends to stick with the apprentice program for another year.
“I’m planning on working through the U.S. Open (in 2025),” Minnick said. “After that, we’ll see where things are and how things are going.”
Mike Mastovich is a sports reporter and columnist for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 814-532-5083. Follow him on Twitter @Masty81.
