Meet Jim Ekman, 89-year-old agronomy member at TPC Twin Cities’ 3M Open

Meet Jim Ekman.

He’s 89 years young and wakes up at 3 a.m. to help the agronomy team at the 3M Open.

Ekman will voluntarily work 40 hours this week around TPC Twin Cities. His duties include trimming grass, tidying up yardage markers, cleaning up trash and taking care of the bathrooms around the course while always looking to do more.

The course superintendent Joe Rolstad said, “Sometimes I have to ask him to leave because he loves to be here so much.”

Ekman fell in love with golf in 1947 at age 12 when he'd spend 25 cents to tee it up with his friends at Como Park Golf Course in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Today he lives a block away from TPC Twin Cities, leaves his house around 4 a.m. and arrives at “4:02 a.m.” to work his seventh year here in Minnesota.

When Ekman is done with his morning duties, he heads back home as a full-time caregiver to his wife, Carol, who he’s been married to for 69 years. They enjoy watching golf together and Ekman will share with Carol places he worked on the course throughout the week.

He comes back to the course for more work from the afternoon into the evening.

Ekman plays nine holes of golf every Monday night in a group league and is the oldest in the league by 25 years.

Rolstad said, “On days when he’s not here, we miss him.”