It took six years, 59 committees, 4,000 volunteers and 44,000 hotel rooms to host the 35th Ryder Cup, the premiere international competition in professional golf. That’s not the half of it! Imagine, if you can, transporting 40,000 people a day for five days to Michigan’s Oakland Hills Country Club golf course, where they sat in 15,000 grandstand seats on almost every hole, shopped in a 340,000 square-foot tent and enjoyed 59 corporate entertainment tents.
Thanks to a highly organized group led by Bob Gigliotti ‘70, the 35th Ryder Cup Matches were “the most successful ever,” Gigliotti said, based on attendance, cooperation of the township, sales of merchandise and budgets. The weather was perfect; be it stellar planning or divine grace, there was no rain at all September 14-19 over Bloomfield Township, Michigan.
Oakland Hills was the 18th United States club to host the Ryder Cup, which began in 1927 and alternates hosts between the U.S. and Europe every two years. Oakland Hills, with Gigliotti as general chair, was chosen for the honor after his successes as vice chair of the U.S. Open in 1996 and the U.S. Senior Open in 1991.
The highlight of the occasion for Gigliotti, he said, was the players’ welcoming dinner, a private affair with the players, their spouses and a select few of the organizers. Julie Jewett, his wife and 1972 Alma graduate, was chair of membership hospitality.
When not organizing gargantuan golf events, Gigliotti is a CPA and managing partner of the Raymann Group in Troy.
