PINEHURST — Dan Kenney is no stranger to the administrative side of sporting events.

It makes perfect sense, then, that he wanted to help out the USGA in running the 124th U.S. Open, being contested this week at Pinehurst No. 2.

Kenney, along with fellow Lumberton native Mark Moses, are among the 4,600 volunteers helping one of golf’s major championships run smoothly.

“Being able to be part of a major sporting event in our state was one thing, and I’ve always been fascinated with organization, detail, logistics,” Kenney said. “Being able to kind get behind the scenes and see everything that happens, on a small scale, a very small scale, that really interests me. And you usually get to meet some pretty fascinating people.”

Kenney, now retired, is the former athletic director and men’s basketball coach at UNC Pembroke, and was also a Division-I coach and administrator at Winthrop.

Now, at the Pinehurst Resort & Country Club where his son, Geoff, is the executive chef during normal non-tournament operations, he’s stationed in corporate hospitality. Stationed Friday on the clubhouse veranda, he verified the credentials of guests as they entered the area behind the 18th green.

“I think that I was just fortuitous, blind luck that I got this hospitality (area). There’s various jobs all up here in the clubhouse, and I’ve gotten to do a number of them, not all of them.”

Kenney is volunteering at an Open for the first time, though he attended the 2014 U.S. Open at the site as a fan.

Moses is a marshal on the 11th hole; the primary focus of that role is crowd control, but he also helps with locating shots that find the native areas left and right of the fairway.

“I’ve always loved the game of golf over the years,” Moses said. “My dad started me when I was 10. I just get a kick out of it. Sometimes you hit a good shot, and the next shot you don’t, but you go on. It’s been a real experience for anyone to come up and see professional golfers playing at Pinehurst.”

While Kenney is in his first turn as a volunteer, Moses is a veteran of USGA championships. This marks his sixth time volunteering, including the 1999 and 2005 U.S. Opens and 1994 U.S. Senior Open at Pinehurst No. 2 and the 1996 and 2001 U.S. Women’s Open at nearby Pine Needles.

“You’re seeing golf history,” said Moses, a retired journalist. “Scottie (Scheffler) has won, what, five times (this year). Tiger (Woods) has five Masters under his belt. … The USGA, they’ve been putting on championships, this is their 1000th championship, which is amazing to be a part of that. I was here in ‘99 to see Payne Stewart win his second U.S. Open. It was just amazing, and I can’t wait until Sunday to see what happens Sunday, because you’ve got some different people at the top of the leaderboard right now.”

Both men described running into friends from Robeson County who are attending the Open this week. They also say they’ve made friendships with some of the volunteers they’ve worked alongside.

Volunteers for the tournament were selected through an application process. Those selected pay a fee to participate, though that includes two golf shirts, a quarter-zip sweater, a hat and lapel pin, all branded with the logo specific to this U.S. Open, as well as a lunch voucher for each day and grounds access to enjoy the tournament as a fan before or after their shift.