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GREENSBORO — Fans wearily left the grounds of Sedgefield Country Club.

A caravan of golf carts with workers who manned the fairways and greens entered.

Bags of trash were hauled out.

Shuttle buses rumbled away.

The last remaining golfers made their way to the 18th hole.

It was 4:58 p.m., and the second round of the 72nd Wyndham Championship was almost over Friday.

Now, it was time for the real work to begin.

* * *

When the last putt dropped on Friday, play may have stopped for the day — but not the Wyndham.

To keep the four-day tournament running, it takes 24 hours — and a lot of man hours.

Groundskeepers, sanitation workers, security personnel — some 150 in all — spend the better part of the night here during tournament time, a few right up until the first tee shot the next day.

For much of that time, they are in perpetual motion.

From hole to hole. From dirt path to asphalt. From equipment shed to fairway. From one task to the next.

Riding golf carts.

Picture an ant farm with headlights.

This is Wyndham after dark.

* * *

If you enjoy sunrises and stress, then working nights at the Wyndham may be for you.

By now, Bobby Powell, the tournament’s multi-tasking director of operations, is used to both.

“Everything you’ve been planning for 52 weeks is finally here,” said Powell, 39, who was working his eighth tournament. “Really, now, it’s just about putting out fires.”

And what crops up during the day often spills into night.

On Friday’s to-do list:

* A scoring trailer lost power.

* A wool rug in a luxury suite was shedding.

* A parking sign needed to be more visible.

* CBS was concerned — OK, make that pretty concerned — that the air conditioning unit in its booth on the 16th hole was making too much noise.

Enter technician Pete Harris, whose forklift held a replacement for the offending unit.

Harris works for a company called Aggreko, which has contracts with the Super Bowl and next summer’s Olympic Games.

“We always keep a spare just in case something goes down,” said Harris, 39. “It turned out that the spare was the quiet one.”

Some parts of Sedgefield feel like Wendover Avenue at rush hour, as golf cart drivers swerve in and out and all around each other.

Then there are parts where you could lose yourself in the tranquility.

That is, until the peace is interrupted by work.

A tanker pumped diesel into a generator on one hole.

A groundskeeper moved a flag pin on another.

A Coke truck was getting rid of its cargo.

A sanitation truck was taking some on.

Cleaning crews made luxury suites, portable toilets and club grounds look like new.

“We basically get everything off the ground that God didn’t drop,” explained Marc Jackson of Ecology Solutions, which works other PGA events.

Over on the practice range, a few pros stuck around to hone their game, contender Ernie Els among them.

That meant Mike Barber would be here a little longer, too. His job description is wish fulfillment. Whatever a pro needs, he gets.

And at the moment, it was alone time at the practice range, which Barber likens to sacred ground for your typical PGA golfer.

“The tour is so competitive now, they’ll hit until dark,” said the Greensboro-born Barber, 49, who was been with the tournament during many of its incarnations. “That’s the part we don’t see.”

* * *

The sun had set.

The concourse was eerily empty.

A nearby putting green was being cut.

A guard stood watch by a grandstand.

And Chuck Deal was doing what he does best: being Chuck Deal.

Wyndham fans probably wouldn’t recognize the McLeansville sign maker — he’s made about 1,000 signs for this year’s tournament — but chances are they have either loved or hated his work.

Some of his greatest hits:

WELCOME TO THE WYNDHAM CHAMPIONSHIP.

CELL PHONES MAY NOT BE USED.

WILL CALL.

And the popular PROS ONLY bathroom sign.

“That’s a hot item,” said Deal, 48, as he mounted a new sign near the practice range. “They get stolen every year because it has a PGA logo on it.”

* * *

Saturday, 3:58 a.m.

A half-moon hung overhead.

A Guilford County deputy walked around.

Kitchen staff arrived in fresh, white jackets.

A trash truck rumbled through.

At 5:30, course superintendent Keith Wood tore down a cart path in the darkness, his golden retriever, Abby, riding shotgun as a walkie-talkie crackled with course chatter.

We should have mowers on one, two and three.

His crew of 50-plus had about three hours to prep the course — and then disappear without a trace.

Mowing and raking sand traps you expect.

But not knocking the dew off walking paths so golfers won’t get their shoes wet.

“When you turn on the TV and watch golf, you have no idea this is going on,” said Wood, as the cart descended into the blackness. “It’s the backbone. Without this, there’s no golf tournament.”

You need me anywhere?

Manpower. Strength in numbers.

That’s how you overwhelm a 7,130-yard course before the sun rises.

The morning before play begins, staff members who are present get checked off on a dry erase board.

Forces are marshaled. A short meeting is held. Assignments are given.

Then they mount riding lawn equipment that looks like it came from “Blade Runner” and depart.

Even though the sky is still dark, Wood, 37, slaps on a white visor, collects Abby, and off they go.

“We just move all around the golf course,” explained Wood, who is in his fourth tournament. “It’s like a dance. ... And Mother Nature is the maestro.”

10-4. Thank you.

The sun’s rays have just began to flirt with the fauna as Wood checks the work done on the first hole — for the second time.

“We’re rounding second base now.”

* * *

Tee markers were put out.

PGA officials inspected the course.

Fans eagerly entered Sedgefield.

Shuttle buses let passengers out.

The first pairing of the day exited the clubhouse.

It was 8:30 a.m. as the third round of the 72nd Wyndham Championship officially began Saturday.

For the night crew, their job was done.

It was time to wait for darkness.

Contact Mike Kernels at 373-7120 or mike.kernels@news-record.com