BEHIND THE SCENES

-- compiled by Mathis Winkler

* NAME: Steve Baum

* HOME: Balboa Island

* JOB TITLE: Mail services committee chairman

* HE IS: In charge of delivering mail to the right people on the green

* DAILY DUTIES: Baum and several other volunteers in the golf

tournament’s mail department take in about 100 shipments each day.

Equipped with a flatbed golf cart, Baum then brings his goods -- ranging

from professional players’ personal mail to cigar boxes for corporate

sponsors -- to the addressee.

After experiencing problems in the past, tournament officials

introduced the service this year.

“It’s like a little miniature UPS system,” Baum said.

For larger arrivals, such as 18 cases of wine that came in Tuesday,

Baum arranges for a truck pickup.

“We would love to have taken [the wine,]” he said with a laugh. “But

we decided we better send it where it belongs.”

Toward the end of the week, Baum’s focus will shift from accepting

shipments to sending them out, he said.

While the sales manager does not play golf himself, Baum said that the

tournament’s beneficiary had brought him to sign on as a volunteer.

“It’s really just for the hospital,” he said. “I enjoy watching

[golf,] but I work too hard [to play.]”

* DID YOU KNOW: While this year’s the first time that Baum’s

volunteering for the Classic, his family ties with Newport Beach golf

tournaments go back to their beginnings. Baum’s father Gene, who died in

1996, helped organize the hospital’s first golf fund-raiser.