© Associated Press Beau Welling poses with the PGA Championship U.S. trophies in a photo provided by Grace Wines before a preview event for the new PGA facility in Frisco, Texas, Oct. 18, 2019. Welling is the golf course architect responsible for Fields Ranch West. PGA Frisco Course. Like many late-game Americans, Bo Welling became addicted to rolling after watching the Olympics on TV and hearing the screams, brooms and rocks. (Photo by Beau Welling Design via AP)
Like many Americans, Bo Welling became addicted to watching the Olympics on TV and watching the hoops, brooms and rocks.
Welling, a golf course architect and senior consultant for Tiger Woods’ design firm, was so excited about the 2006 Turin Games that he traveled to Bemidji, Minnesota, two weeks later for the U.S. Championship.
They gave him the best spot on the track, a spot in the lineup, and ultimately the best job in sports.
Like a well-placed curling shot hurled from rock to rock before coming to rest, Welling turned but was on target. Selected by the World Curling Federation. .
“At Twist, we work hard on our hospitality for everyone. said five-time Olympian John Schuster, who won bronze at the first Winter Games in 2006 when he met Welling State. . Hockey Champions, understands exactly what curling is all about.
“Nobody has to go through life to be praised,” said Schuster, who won a gold medal in PyeongChang 2018. “Curling brings a lot of good to people because it’s a sport based on that. Sportsmanship, friendship and community.
Welling’s other interests, such as golf, originated in Scotland centuries ago; Curling in the Nordic countries and Canada, as well as in the northern part of the United States settled Scandinavians. Welling appeared after the games because the entire US curling team in Turin was from Bemidji.
In the empty lobby of the Holiday Inn Express, Pete Fenson narrowly missed the bronze medal for the Americans, then the only Olympic medal in American curling history.
“I left Tiger Woods, I left Bill Clinton. None, Welling told The Associated Press after being elected WCF president. “To me, this is a celebrity.”
Welling didn’t know it yet, but he was also a bit of a celebrity. New sports fans were traveling through Bemidji, and Fenson lit up when Welling said he had flown in from South Carolina.
“He’s like, ‘Oh my God, are you Bo?’ Bo Welling? … We thought you changed your mind, remember. “And so I’m looking around, like, ‘I’m on a TV show with a hidden camera or something, what in the world is going on?’
Event organizers gave Welling premium seating, a stool taken from the bar that housed the glass screen bearing his name. People took to ice fishing. He went onto the ice of the championship trying to twist his arm first.
“Being a golfer is like teaching someone to putt the first green at Augusta National,” Welling said.
He was 36 when he was in Bemidji and the city threw him a birthday party. At the closing, he was recognized and appointed as the official Southern Ambassador of the sport of curling. They marched with the Olympians in a welcome procession.
“I think they were shocked to find an online car from South Carolina,” Welling said. “They took me in very kindly and they are very nice and nice people. Sport attracts me there, but I can stay nine days. And the reason I’m alive is because of people.”
But Welling wasn’t the only fan like the millions who turned up and quickly left during the Olympics.
USA Curling decided that his knowledge of the business of sports through his work in the golf industry would add value to their board. The national governing body appointed a WCF representative and in September she beat three other candidates to replace Scotland’s Kate Kites.
“It’s an unusual path because he wasn’t really from the club system or a competitive athlete,” said Curling Canada executive director Kathryn Henderson. “I think the thing about curling is that curling has reached a point of maturity where it’s really important for the sport to have good, thoughtful, forward-thinking sports leaders.”
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AP Sportswriter Jimmy Golen has reported on three Olympic curling. You can follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jgolen.
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More AP Olympics. https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports