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Meet the ‘Bridge Troll’ of the John Deere Classic

SILVIS, Illinois– When she’s not volunteering feel free to call her Mary Jean. But when she takes to the course, she’s known as the Bridge Tro...

SILVIS, Illinois-- When she's not volunteering feel free to call her Mary Jean. But when she takes to the course, she's known as the Bridge Troll.

"It's amazing the number of players that come through year to year and they know her and they say hello to her," says Hole 15 Captain Dale Wilson.

But her questions are a lot easier than the trolls in the storybooks.

"I really enjoy it. And I mostly like the people. I meet a lot of new people from all over the place," says Mary Jean Ferguson.

It takes a special person  to be named master of this course bridge because if you look around the tee box and the fairway on the 15th hole, you can't see any golf at all.

"I hear when they hit up here on the 15th tee, and over here on 17, I hear the cheers when they're coming in at the green," says Mary Jean.

But that hasn't always been the case for this volunteer of 17 years.

"I skipped one. My husband passed away on the Friday of the Classic. Everybody said he was just waiting for the Classic to start because he was an avid golfer," says Mary Jean.

Mary's husband Mike, used to be a ball spotter on Hole 15.

"He was the one that would radio me down here. I always heard his voice, and that's the reason I didn't know if I could come back or not because I thought I wouldn't hear his voice. I didn't know if I could handle it. Right now it's choking me up," says Mary Jean.

But this beloved bridge troll is keeping her perch.

"I say well, here we go again. You have to be with me, so I think he'd be proud of me," says Mary Jean.

She knows she's filling some pretty big shoes.

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