Day 4 September 3, 2012 Labor Day Monday DBC
If you've read this far, you learned of my typical routine putting in a 12+ hour day at the DBC. I was assigned to the Phil Mickelson-Jeff Overton pairing, teeing off at 1:00pm. This was the 6th from last pairing of the day, Phil at -9, the leaders being Rory McIlroy at -16 and Louie Oosthuizen at -19. We were set-up with a 4-person crew including Pam, Jim, and Tony, all of whom I'd worked with in the past and enjoyed their low-key competence in handling the larger galleries. I'd scored some extra passes for today's final round so I went to the volunteer tent to see if I could arrange to have them sent over to the will-call booth at the Comcast parking lot. I was astounded when I learned that a volunteer would drive them over to the VIP parking area for me. I called my kids to let them know of this arrangement, and looked forward to seeing them on-site later in the day.
Our round with Phil and Jeff went well, starting with around 200 spectators, then building throughout the front 9 to around 1,000, pretty sizeable, but seemed small in comparison to yesterday w/ TW. Had the usual demands of marshaling when the crowd was there primarily to see Phil, and needed frequent reminders to avoid moving while Overton finished his stroke. Unfortunately, he is a relatively slow player, so keeping the crowd in place felt like we were repeatedly trying to hold back the tide. I spent most of this round inside the ropes beside the players since maneuvering outside through the crowd would have been impossible. On the 6th hole I got a text from our daughter Jill that she had arrived with our son Brian and his girlfriend Lauren, and that they were at the 7th green, keeping an eye out for me. They spotted me as we made our way up the 7th fairway, and positioned our crew around the green. Jill said I looked like I knew what I was doing! I just barely saw them when we hopped into the stretch golf carts that transport us the 200 yards down to the 8th tee. I thought that was the last I'd see them since the crowd were pretty massive on the cart path. As I stood at the 8th tee, I was pleasantly surprised to see the kids make their way through the crowd, just as we were about to move on. I grabbed some waters for them from the tee box cooler, then off I hustled to catch-up to the players as they walked to the green. I next saw them along the 9th fairway and directed them to a great viewing area to the left of the 9th green. As we strode past on our way to the 10th tee, I had a quick chance to say goodbye to them. Jill called me later to say they really enjoyed their day, especially at the 9th green where they were closely positioned for all the final pairings as they came by (Tiger, Dustin Johnson, Rory, and Louie). She said she was especially thrilled when Phil Mickelson looked her right in the eyes! Brian was surprised how quickly we were moving along with the players inside the ropes, the kids couldn't keep up due the huge crowd of spectators.
Our back nine went well, always a thrill to come up 18 with Phil drawing such a positive response from the gallery all along the left side of the fairway. Our crew then accompanied him and Jeff to the scoring trailer, interview area, and onward to the autograph pen. I was positioned directly beside Phil as he signed for 25 minutes, I complimented him on his patience under the onslaught of the fans asking for his attention. He finally made his way to the locker room entrance and was gone. I then headed back to the 18th green where extra hands are always needed as the DBC finishes on this Labor Day. I worked the crosswalk rope area awhile just as Tiger and Dustin exited from the green. I then moved greenside for the final pairing, watching as Louie missed his putt that would have tied Rory and led to a playoff for the second year in a row. After having seen Rory up close when he won at Congressional, it was nice to see him win at "my" tournament.
Monday
Sunday
Day 3 September 2, 2012 Sunday DBC
One of the best days I've experienced as a marshal in 4 years of volunteering, I'd earned the coveted assignment to Tiger's group, teeing off at 1:35pm. I would be part of a 6 person crew, including marshals chair Maureen, our mobile marshals co-chairs Karen & David, plus 2 other marshals with lots of DBC marshaling experience as well as at the Travelers tournament. I'd learned over the previous years that this assignment wasn't everyone's favorite, several marshals had told me they didn't like the controlled chaos of TW's huge galleries, nearly crazed fans constantly showering him with all kinds of comments just to get his attention throughout 18 holes. We'd see how this all turned out, I'd have to wait another 5 1/2 hours.
Had my usual volunteer breakfast which I brought up the player practice area to hang out with all my new buddies at the ball tent. I was also getting to know several of the Norton police officers who stayed in the general area until they eventually left to escort their assigned players, kind of like us mobiles. Always interesting hearing them talk about events of previous days in the tournament, especially the high-jinx happening yesterday on a hot Saturday afternoon. At my second breakfast, met up with another marshal, Jim, as we sat at the 9th grandstand, terrific guy, very personable. He told me of the volunteer assignment his high school age daughter had as an observer, which included being stationed near the clubhouse locker room entrance, where she had lots of interaction with the players. What an experience that must have been, she'll be a DBC volunteer for life! After a couple hours, went for lunch, (all I do is eat at DBC), sitting at a picnic table at the volunteer village, where I was soon joined by Maureen, Karen, & David, then Diane and John, our 6 person Tiger crew. We worked out our plan for marshaling Tiger and Ryan Moore's gallery, including the need to be aware of fans attempting to take cellphone pictures.
The electric atmosphere of the "Tiger" gallery at the first tee was palpable, a phenomenon like no other at DBC. As we made our way through the round, it grew from 2,000 to at least 4,000, a solid mass of people crowded around every tee box, 15 to 20 people deep in places. I spent the entire day inside the ropes as there was no way to make it through these crowds otherwise. Most of the time, I was within 10 to 20 feet of Tiger and Moore. It was all we could do to keep control of the gallery, with our crew of 6, plus those marshals stationed at each hole. There was always someone in the crowd yelling every variation of Tiger's name seemingly every five seconds. I don't know how he was able to keep his concentration but it goes a long way toward explaining his need to have his game face on throughout 18 holes. I'd go nuts if I was trying to play golf under these conditions. And yet, it made for the most intense mobile marshaling experience, especially since Tiger was in contention, playing in the second to last pairing of the day.
I had a great time, lots of positive crowd interactions, people asking all kinds of questions as we walked along, all kinds of reactions from fans whenever we asked them to put down their cellphones--"no pictures please'' was my near constant refrain. I had two high school kids ask me how to become volunteers, they noticed our sign bearer walking with us, a position always reserved for our youngest volunteers. They mentioned that they were on the golf team, I told them how to go on the DBC website and sign-up for next year. Along the way I ran into Rex Hoggard of the Golf Channel, introduced myself and we chatted a bit as we walked along the front 9. It was an overall great experience, no negatives from my perspective, a huge crowd but without mass chaos. After we finished at the 18th green, we moved on to the scoring / interview area nearby, cordoned off from the massive crowds gathered behind barriers. John & I positioned ourselves near Tiger and Ryan Moore as they were interviewed by NBC, then moved on with them to the autograph area. Five other marshals were already stationed there to handle Tiger's fans, we stayed off to the side with Moore. Someone in the crowd asked him "what was it like to play golf with Tiger", to which he replied, "it is what it is!". I think this is indicative of how exhausting it must be to a player in the eye of the hurricane that is the ''Tiger'' gallery.
One of the best days I've experienced as a marshal in 4 years of volunteering, I'd earned the coveted assignment to Tiger's group, teeing off at 1:35pm. I would be part of a 6 person crew, including marshals chair Maureen, our mobile marshals co-chairs Karen & David, plus 2 other marshals with lots of DBC marshaling experience as well as at the Travelers tournament. I'd learned over the previous years that this assignment wasn't everyone's favorite, several marshals had told me they didn't like the controlled chaos of TW's huge galleries, nearly crazed fans constantly showering him with all kinds of comments just to get his attention throughout 18 holes. We'd see how this all turned out, I'd have to wait another 5 1/2 hours.
Had my usual volunteer breakfast which I brought up the player practice area to hang out with all my new buddies at the ball tent. I was also getting to know several of the Norton police officers who stayed in the general area until they eventually left to escort their assigned players, kind of like us mobiles. Always interesting hearing them talk about events of previous days in the tournament, especially the high-jinx happening yesterday on a hot Saturday afternoon. At my second breakfast, met up with another marshal, Jim, as we sat at the 9th grandstand, terrific guy, very personable. He told me of the volunteer assignment his high school age daughter had as an observer, which included being stationed near the clubhouse locker room entrance, where she had lots of interaction with the players. What an experience that must have been, she'll be a DBC volunteer for life! After a couple hours, went for lunch, (all I do is eat at DBC), sitting at a picnic table at the volunteer village, where I was soon joined by Maureen, Karen, & David, then Diane and John, our 6 person Tiger crew. We worked out our plan for marshaling Tiger and Ryan Moore's gallery, including the need to be aware of fans attempting to take cellphone pictures.
The electric atmosphere of the "Tiger" gallery at the first tee was palpable, a phenomenon like no other at DBC. As we made our way through the round, it grew from 2,000 to at least 4,000, a solid mass of people crowded around every tee box, 15 to 20 people deep in places. I spent the entire day inside the ropes as there was no way to make it through these crowds otherwise. Most of the time, I was within 10 to 20 feet of Tiger and Moore. It was all we could do to keep control of the gallery, with our crew of 6, plus those marshals stationed at each hole. There was always someone in the crowd yelling every variation of Tiger's name seemingly every five seconds. I don't know how he was able to keep his concentration but it goes a long way toward explaining his need to have his game face on throughout 18 holes. I'd go nuts if I was trying to play golf under these conditions. And yet, it made for the most intense mobile marshaling experience, especially since Tiger was in contention, playing in the second to last pairing of the day.
I had a great time, lots of positive crowd interactions, people asking all kinds of questions as we walked along, all kinds of reactions from fans whenever we asked them to put down their cellphones--"no pictures please'' was my near constant refrain. I had two high school kids ask me how to become volunteers, they noticed our sign bearer walking with us, a position always reserved for our youngest volunteers. They mentioned that they were on the golf team, I told them how to go on the DBC website and sign-up for next year. Along the way I ran into Rex Hoggard of the Golf Channel, introduced myself and we chatted a bit as we walked along the front 9. It was an overall great experience, no negatives from my perspective, a huge crowd but without mass chaos. After we finished at the 18th green, we moved on to the scoring / interview area nearby, cordoned off from the massive crowds gathered behind barriers. John & I positioned ourselves near Tiger and Ryan Moore as they were interviewed by NBC, then moved on with them to the autograph area. Five other marshals were already stationed there to handle Tiger's fans, we stayed off to the side with Moore. Someone in the crowd asked him "what was it like to play golf with Tiger", to which he replied, "it is what it is!". I think this is indicative of how exhausting it must be to a player in the eye of the hurricane that is the ''Tiger'' gallery.
Saturday
Day 2 September 1, 2012 Saturday DBC
At the morning assignment meeting, I had a pleasant reunion with Pat and Brian, two marshals I had met last year. I was assigned as crew leader for the threesome of Webb Simpson, Louis Oosthuizen, & Bo VanPelt, teeing off at 1:10pm. Decided to spend some of my waiting time marshaling for the Rory McIlroy, Zach Johnson, and Jason Dufner group teeing off at 8:10. Just nine holes though, have to save the legs for the main event later in the day. I've calculated that the typical mobile marshal day of walking 27 holes at TPC Boston amounts to about an 8-9 mile walk. The course is very spread out, especially the front 9, with lots of sections along wooden elevated cart paths through the marshlands between holes, a beautiful course. I started with some breakfast at the volunteer pavilion then went to the ball tent on the players practice area. Noticed Rory chatting with his girlfriend Caroline Wozniaki as he was getting warmed-up for his round. When we got started, going off the 10th tee, I again noticed Ms. Wozniaki standing a short ways down the fairway. Being the marshal crew leader, I approached her, introduced myself as being assigned to escort Rory's group, and let her know we would be able to offer any assistance if needed, (water, cart transport, or if she was being unduly bothered by fans). She was very appreciative, but didn't request anything. We'd been instructed in our marshal meetings to offer these courtesies to make the DBC as pleasant an experience as possible to PGA TOUR players and their guests.
Rory had a huge gallery for this time in the morning, over 1,000 easily, as we made our way through his first nine holes. He was in the lead at 11 under par when I stopped after 9 holes to get lunch and rest up for the afternoon round. Our volunteer lunch today was catered by Bertucci pizza, another nice perk for all the DBC volunteers. Kind of comical though, hearing all of the hole marshal captains over the headset radio requesting pizza deliveries to the outermost holes. At 1:00, I met my other four marshals at the 10th tee for our threesome with Webb, Louie, and Bo. I could tell right away we were over-staffed when only 50 spectators had gathered for this group. I saw Webb's wife Dowd pushing a stroller along the 10th fairway cart path, introduced myself and offered any assistance she might need along the way.
Some strange things started happening in this round; one of our crew disappeared after the first hole, never to be heard from again. Another member of our crew left after 4 holes; he'd walked 18 holes in the morning and then called it quits, heading over to a corporate pavilion on 16 where he had an entry pass evidently, cocktails included. That left me, Dave and Jeff, still plenty of marshals for our small gallery, which by the end of our first 9 had dwindled to around 30 people. As we made our way down the long walk to the first tee for our "back 9", we were stunned when we found out the small gallery had totally abandoned this group, even Dowd Simpson! I was eventually able to arrange a reassignment for us back at the congested 15th/16th hole areas which is always pretty wild in the corporate pavilion area. At this point, Jeff and Dave decided they'd rather find out where Tiger was in his round, and walk along with him. I was sure that Tiger's group didn't need any extra marshals in the 8 man crew already assigned to him, as I'd already requested that reassignment for us. Anyway, off they went, and I stayed at 16 for awhile, then went over to the 14th tee box in response to a request from the hole captain for some extra help. After awhile I worked my way down to the 17th green, spending a bit of time talking with the serviceman tending the flagstick with the American flag rather than the standard DBC flag. He seemed like a great guy. I could tell how honored he was with his assignment. All along I was assessing the gallery size and heading for those areas where the need was greatest, eventually along the ropes on the 18th fairway. Several stationary hole marshals in this area asked for suggestions, so I had them space themselves every 15 yards or so, to provide an extra presence on the finishing hole. The gallery in this area near the 18th green was easily 10-15 people deep. Things built to a roar as Tiger's group came through, once again demonstrating his incredible appeal to the golfing world. After this whirlwind blew through and things settled down at 18, I took a deep breath and called it a day.
At the morning assignment meeting, I had a pleasant reunion with Pat and Brian, two marshals I had met last year. I was assigned as crew leader for the threesome of Webb Simpson, Louis Oosthuizen, & Bo VanPelt, teeing off at 1:10pm. Decided to spend some of my waiting time marshaling for the Rory McIlroy, Zach Johnson, and Jason Dufner group teeing off at 8:10. Just nine holes though, have to save the legs for the main event later in the day. I've calculated that the typical mobile marshal day of walking 27 holes at TPC Boston amounts to about an 8-9 mile walk. The course is very spread out, especially the front 9, with lots of sections along wooden elevated cart paths through the marshlands between holes, a beautiful course. I started with some breakfast at the volunteer pavilion then went to the ball tent on the players practice area. Noticed Rory chatting with his girlfriend Caroline Wozniaki as he was getting warmed-up for his round. When we got started, going off the 10th tee, I again noticed Ms. Wozniaki standing a short ways down the fairway. Being the marshal crew leader, I approached her, introduced myself as being assigned to escort Rory's group, and let her know we would be able to offer any assistance if needed, (water, cart transport, or if she was being unduly bothered by fans). She was very appreciative, but didn't request anything. We'd been instructed in our marshal meetings to offer these courtesies to make the DBC as pleasant an experience as possible to PGA TOUR players and their guests.
Rory had a huge gallery for this time in the morning, over 1,000 easily, as we made our way through his first nine holes. He was in the lead at 11 under par when I stopped after 9 holes to get lunch and rest up for the afternoon round. Our volunteer lunch today was catered by Bertucci pizza, another nice perk for all the DBC volunteers. Kind of comical though, hearing all of the hole marshal captains over the headset radio requesting pizza deliveries to the outermost holes. At 1:00, I met my other four marshals at the 10th tee for our threesome with Webb, Louie, and Bo. I could tell right away we were over-staffed when only 50 spectators had gathered for this group. I saw Webb's wife Dowd pushing a stroller along the 10th fairway cart path, introduced myself and offered any assistance she might need along the way.
Some strange things started happening in this round; one of our crew disappeared after the first hole, never to be heard from again. Another member of our crew left after 4 holes; he'd walked 18 holes in the morning and then called it quits, heading over to a corporate pavilion on 16 where he had an entry pass evidently, cocktails included. That left me, Dave and Jeff, still plenty of marshals for our small gallery, which by the end of our first 9 had dwindled to around 30 people. As we made our way down the long walk to the first tee for our "back 9", we were stunned when we found out the small gallery had totally abandoned this group, even Dowd Simpson! I was eventually able to arrange a reassignment for us back at the congested 15th/16th hole areas which is always pretty wild in the corporate pavilion area. At this point, Jeff and Dave decided they'd rather find out where Tiger was in his round, and walk along with him. I was sure that Tiger's group didn't need any extra marshals in the 8 man crew already assigned to him, as I'd already requested that reassignment for us. Anyway, off they went, and I stayed at 16 for awhile, then went over to the 14th tee box in response to a request from the hole captain for some extra help. After awhile I worked my way down to the 17th green, spending a bit of time talking with the serviceman tending the flagstick with the American flag rather than the standard DBC flag. He seemed like a great guy. I could tell how honored he was with his assignment. All along I was assessing the gallery size and heading for those areas where the need was greatest, eventually along the ropes on the 18th fairway. Several stationary hole marshals in this area asked for suggestions, so I had them space themselves every 15 yards or so, to provide an extra presence on the finishing hole. The gallery in this area near the 18th green was easily 10-15 people deep. Things built to a roar as Tiger's group came through, once again demonstrating his incredible appeal to the golfing world. After this whirlwind blew through and things settled down at 18, I took a deep breath and called it a day.
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