By Pat Welter, WRAL Sports anchor/reporter

“I have a good ole saying when I play, I just hit and pray,” Mark Williams said as he stepped up to his golf ball on the driving range at North Ridge Country Club in Raleigh.

“Twack!” was the sound of good clean contact as Williams connected with his iron and sent the ball straight about 200 yards.

If you could hit the ball like that, you might have an inflated ego.

“If I could only do that on the golf course,” Williams shrugs as he lines up another ball.

WIlliams has no ego, just the humility and self-deprecating sense of humor that comes with being a golf professional.

“I need to quit,” he says, smiling after nailing a drive perfectly as well.

Williams is a golf pro at North Ridge where he gives lessons, works in the pro shop and makes sure members are getting what they need.

“(I) play with members, make sure that members are taken care of,” he says. “I have some fun with it.”

Believe it or not he didn’t play much golf growing up. He fell in love with the sport at Campbell University where he studied in their PGA golf management program.

That’s also where he started to wear his inflatable suit.

“I got (Carolina Hurricanes) season tickets for the 2018-19 season,” Williams said. “If they made the playoffs I was like alright I’m going to wear the suit. They made the playoffs, and essentially we have not missed the playoffs since.”

On the golf course, Williams has earned the nickname Chaos, but at Carolina Hurricanes games he’s heard everything from bubble boy, bubble man, bubble guy, chubby and blow-up man.

“I go by Chaos, because it is pure chaos what I do,” Williams said.

After working at the course, Williams and his family go to the Canes home games. His parents and siblings will wear typical Canes gear like a jersey or team T-shirt. In the parking lot before the Canes game versus the Buffalo Sabres, Williams steps into his brand new, green, inflatable suit.

“This is a fresh one,” Williams says, “never been worn.”

He typically wears a red or black suit, but it’s Whalers night, and he’s got the suit to match.

After moving through security with the suit un-inflated, Williams hits his battery pack on the concourse.

“Watch it not work,” he laughs.

It takes about a minute for the suit to blow up, and less time for fans to start calling his name.

“Bubble guy,” one fan yells. Another stops to take a picture.

“That’s the thing about this team, everyone’s a tight-knit community,” Williams said. “Everybody cares about each other, especially in our section, section 110.”

It’s not easy to get to his seat with the suit on, or sit in it.

“Oh forgot to deflate,” he laughed as he sat down.

But once he’s there he heckles, high 5s, and dances. Does he ever dance.

“Once puck drop hits, I kind of get in the groove,” Williams said. “There are certain songs that I’ll get really into, but also I kind of go with the flow of the game.”

Williams appears on the Jumbotron so much he’s become an unofficial part of the in-game entertainment, but he gets no cues from the team. His performance is all improv.

“That’s the beauty of it,” he said. “I don’t know when it’s going to happen.”

Course by day, Caniac by night, Williams’ life is “chaos” and that’s just how he likes it.

“I love my job, and I love coming here,” he said. “Hopefully sooner or later we get a Stanley Cup. I can’t wait. I would love that celebration.”

Source: wralsportsfan.com