Dennis Grall photo Kelly Wergin, Symetra manager, rules and competition, sets a marker on the 12th green Monday at Sweetgrass Golf Club as Symetra golfer Paula Hurtado-Restiepo of Columbia watches. Wergin is in her 15th year in that position and has set up the Sweetgrass course for all nine tournaments.

HARRIS — Kelly Wergin is in the background for the Symetra Tour, but the Island Resort Championship at Sweetgrass, as well as other venues, would not operate as smoothly without her input.

Wergin was performing her various duties Monday, getting Sweetgrass Golf Club ready for this weekend’s ninth annual Symetra tournament. She rides all over the course, but also puts on about eight miles walking as part of her chores.

All the figures and notes she took Monday will be included in a book players use for the tournament, from pin locations to what part of the tee box will be used each of the three days.

She showed what the hole location book will look like by indicating one pin placement may be 34 yards onto the green and six yards from the left corner, at least on one of the tourney days.

No. 12, which boasts a gully in the middle of two levels (called a biarritz green), Wergin stepped off 50 paces from the gully to the front of the green and marked it in her book and sprayed white paint at the approach angle. She said the players will use two different tee boxes on No. 12, based on which of three potential spots the pin will be set.

“You can vary the length of the hole,” she said. “Players like variety. Not too much, but they do like a little variety.”

With five tee boxes on each hole, allowing the course to play anywhere from 5,073 yards to 7,273, Wergin can be quite creative as she sets up the course for the tournament, which will run Friday through Sunday.

Wergin said there are at least three very distinct pin locations on every green, and she looks at angles players will use for their tee shots and approach shots.

“I don’t set a course up for a (certain) score. I try to give them some scoring opportunities. Not every hole are they going to get a birdie,” she said. “It’s got to be fun for them to play and fun for the fans to watch. I don’t want to see a player get beat up, but you don’t want them to drain everything.

“It has got to be a nice mix,” she said while driving toward the 17th green. Monday, the pin was in the right front, beneath a big slope that cuts across the middle of the green and offers three markedly different pin options.

Wergin said she will not place a pin on a slope of more than two degrees based on the Breakmaster (a device that measures the slope of a green), one of several instruments she uses in her course set-ups.

“I try to find an area that is relatively flat around the hole. I don’t want to have a three-foot break for a two-foot putt. I don’t want silly golf,” she said.

“I like this design (of Sweetgrass). It fits our tournament well. It is a good fit,” she said while indicating she does not make comparisons between the 24 tournament sites she sets up. She also does set-up at some LPGA tournaments, including several in Asia.

She did say “players love this course and love coming up here. It is worth the time (for them) to get up here to play this course,” she said, noting most players in the 256-women field will have played in Decatur, Ill. last week at the Forsyth Classic.

An added bonus this year is the top two finishers Sunday will automatically qualify to play in the Evian Championship in Paris, one of the LPGA’s five major tournaments.

Wergin said Sweetgrass offers a major challenge “On the Road to the LPGA.” She said the potential for gusting and strong winds plays a large role in setting up the course and how the players perform.

The first IRC in 2011 demonstrated the effect wind plays at Sweetgrass. Opening day at the iconic No. 15 island green, 60 tee shots were rinsed as players hit straight into a fierce wind. The next day the wind shifted to their backs, and only 10 balls got wet.

“Wind really impacts how golf courses are played. It is good to have some kind of defense because the players will tear it up (otherwise),”

Wergin said. “This is a test of their skill. They want to play courses that are challenging and make them think.”

Wergin said weather forecasts help dictate tee box use and pin locations. “You always try to mix it up day-to-day,” she said, indicating a stiff head wind may require a forward tee box. The wind also dictates pin placement, in the middle of the green or on the edges.

She tries to give players a good challenge but nothing extreme, such as at the U.S. Open last week at Pebble Beach where the rough grew tall and thick and the greens were slick.

“I always defer to the (local) superintendent,” she said, speaking of John Holberton. “We are here one week. He is here all year (with the course open to the public and players of a large variety of skill levels).”

She said greens on most Symetra Tour courses are at the 10-11 level on the stimpmeter. “That is where players score. If that is perfect, everything (else) falls into place,” she said.

Wergin was all smiles as we drove across a wooden bridge that splits several tee locations on either side of the water on No. 17. “I’m going to use two tees,” she said, noting players don’t care for the angle off the normal rear tee box before the bridge.

“This year I’m going to have a little more fun” that will require players to hit over an intimidating marsh that will provide a better angle into the green on the hole that may measure from 337 yards to 392.

“I look at what the architect (Paul Albanese) did when he built the course,” she said, noting the landing area offers the best approach angle into the green. She wants players to use all 14 of their clubs, even using a 3-wood instead of driver for some tee balls.

The 17th offers about eight tee box sites. “It makes it a lot more fun to set up the course and it makes it more interesting for the players,” Wergin said with a smile.

Wergin has been handling course set-ups for 15 years and has been at Sweetgrass every year. She had previously worked for Quest communications but was left go from that position. “This is an awful nice office to walk into every day,” she said while driving down No. 13 fairway.

One of the early arrivals was playing the 13th green and took a selfie of the two wooden eagles that guard that green. “I think every player on this tour has a selfie with the eagles,” said Wergin.

The winner of this event will receive $30,000 from the $200,000 purse. While a few golfers practiced Monday, the majority of the 156-player field will practice today. Those who do not play in the pro-ams Wednesday and Thursday will have practice rounds those mornings.

The tournament starts at 7:30 a.m. Friday, with threesomes off the first and 10th tees. Twosomes go off No. 1 tee Sunday, starting at 7:30. Ticket packages at $10 for the three days are available throughout the area.