US Open

Day 4    June 16, 2013    Father's Day

Jim and I decided to park closer to the course rather than spend extra time taking the shuttle, which would be swamped at the end of play later today.  Found a spot for $25 in someone's driveway; every house had a parking sign in the neighborhood surrounding Merion.   We entered through a different gate than other days, placing us at the opposite end of the course, a long way from my assignment at the 7th green grandstand.    No problem, we went over to the cart area beside the clubhouse and the attendant was nice enough to loan us one under the circumstances.  I arrived at 9:00 for my 8:15 assignment, but I needn't have hurried as I got there even before the hole captain.  Very few spectators at that hour as well.  Met the area captain, in charge of 3-4 grandstands in this section of the course, nice kid, said it was his first marshaling experience, and he was assigned to a supervisory position.  He was doing a great job taking care of us all day, bringing water to our crew of 4 marshals as we worked, very little shade at this spot.  The 7th is a nice par 4, I was placed perfectly to watch all the approach shots coming straight at us, plus was perched directly over the 8th tee, with a great view of that as well.  Got a little tricky at times as the 7th green and 8th tee were so close together that we had to keep things quiet for both areas. Our grandstand was tiny, holding only 100 people, so this really wasn't too difficult, we got to know lots of fans as it became a pretty cozy viewing area.  Worked with some great marshals, especially Joe and Richard, two brothers who had worked a combined 11 US Opens.  Joe was so into it, he'd even gotten his name monogrammed onto his volunteer golf shirt just for the occasion.  The grandstand reached capacity around 11:30 and stayed that way until I was relieved at 12:30, my next assignment starting at 2:30 at the 12th green grandstand.

I grabbed lunch at the concession stand between holes 10 & 12, then sat in the shade to watch the play on 11.  This is such a terrific hole, with water and bunkers making for a very difficult approach shot.  Lots of history made here in past championships.  After lunch I headed over to the 12th green side grandstand, meeting Bill the captain, nice Southern gentleman, who I'd worked with earlier in the week on 17.  This was a medium sized location, holding around 500 at capacity.  The 12th hole is a par 4 uphill dogleg right, tough birdie hole, saw very few during my 4 hour shift.  After an hour, Bill told me his relief at captain was 2 hours late, another no-show.  He asked if I would captain the afternoon shift, getting the headset on and organizing our 5-man marshal crew.  Great bunch of guys to implement the plan for coordinating spectator traffic flow, designating the 2 stairways as either entry/exit only, writing re-entry passes, with 2 marshals working the aisles and signaling to me how many people to admit.  We reached grandstand capacity for the last 5 player pairings by late afternoon, no one wanting to give up their seats on Sunday at the US Open.  Really enjoyed interacting with the fans, fielding lots of questions about what it was like volunteering, how did I get involved in this, etc.  Fans were very cooperative despite the packed house, maintaining a hushed atmosphere as players worked on the 12th green just a few feet below us.  Excitement continued to build as Justin Rose, (who would eventually win), Jason Day, & Luke Donald played through, culminating with Phil Mickelson and Hunter Mahan, the final pairing.  To add to the drama, it started to rain over the last 30 minutes of play, with one rumble of thunder heard in the distance, threatening to halt play and postpone the outcome.  I prayed that wouldn't happen, which would have required us to evacuate the grandstand.
After Phil and Hunter passed through, all the spectators began to file out, with countless fans thanking us marshals for our efforts, keeping the crowd under control without being over-bearing, finding seats for everyone, keeping sight lines unblocked, and basically ensuring a great fan experience.  This makes  our job that much better.  We're paying for the privilege to volunteer, putting in long hours, but are paid back with those appreciative comments.

I met up with Jim and we went for food to map out our strategy for the big finish of the tournament.  Much as we did at Congressional, we figured there would be a need for extra marshals at the 18th green.  We met with the hole captain there who was anxiously working the chute between the ropes heading from the green to the clubhouse where players would exit and greet their families.  A huge crowd had gathered behind the ropes including player's wives/girlfriends, media of all types, police, USGA officials, friends, and all sorts of beautiful people.  I offered our services to the captain and he immediately placed us in the chute to help with keeping it open between the ropes, Jim and I on either side, only 8 feet apart.  From our vantage point we could see each player as they finished on the green, shook hands, then proceeded toward us to make their way to the scoring area inside the clubhouse.  Invariably each one was stopped by people in the crowd to exchange greetings and fist-bumps before they moved on, passing between us. Jim introduced himself to a lovely woman standing behind the rope, who was quite pregnant, even offering to bring over a nearby folding chair for her.  She graciously accepted, turns out she was Hunter Mahan's wife.  Jim had another close encounter with a player as he later happened to be standing by another beautiful woman, holding a small baby, Mrs. Jason Day.  When he came by after his round to embrace his family, it almost looked like Jim was going to get a hug too. The look in Jim's eyes was fantastic, he couldn't stop saying "its like we've got all access passes!"  I chatted with two gorgeous women, a photographer for a Baltimore newspaper and a Brit who was absolutely ecstatic about Rose's apparent victory. The atmosphere rose to a high pitched roar as Rose putted out at +1, with only Phil in any position to catch him from behind, if he could birdie 18.  Unfortunately for him it didn't happen, so close.

The tournament over, we walked into the clubhouse, intending just to use the bathroom but when a passing waitress handed us two beers, decided to hang out awhile in the grill room, soaking it all in at the last.  What a tremendous finish to a terrific experience at Merion.

Jim and I raising a glass to toast a successful US Open at Merion

Phil putting out at 12th green. That's me just above him on the grandstand.

 

US Open

Day 3    June 15, 2013

Got an early start to breakfast, chatting with the cook about our need to start even earlier tomorrow, before the buffet opened.  She very graciously put together a breakfast tray for the two of us, such a nice lady. She knew we were volunteering at the Open and thanked us for our efforts.  My shift today was scheduled to start at 10:30 so we were off to Merion by 9:30.  On the way we received a call from Jim's wife Amy who made lots of funny comments about Jim's big day at the Open yesterday, inside the ropes.  I arrived at my assignment on the 17th grandstand, which was only 20% full at that hour.  I was pleasantly surprised when one of the grandstand co-captains held a meeting of the 20 or so marshals, to strategize our plan for managing this huge location.  One of the primary concerns was implementing the USGA system of allowing fans to leave the grandstand when it was at capacity, yet still be able to re-enter and not lose their seat.  To do this, we had to station a marshal at every exit, issuing a ticket on which he would write the exact 1 hour time limit for when the patron could return.  Sounds simple but in practice was virtually unmanageable.  In addition, we had to develop a system for limiting entry to the premium corporate grandstand section requiring a pass since on prior days lots of unauthorized fans were filling in empty seats in this section.  We were planning on being filled to capacity as the day wore on so we needed a plan.  I was assigned to the corporate entry stairway, checking everyone's passes.  All of us marshals were also attempting to maintain some crowd control while players were putting, which included restricting movement on the bleachers frequently.  This worked out quite nicely except for the occasional patron who would try to bluff his way into the corporate area without the proper pass.  The grandstand reached full capacity around 2:00pm, over three thousand people.  At this point the atmosphere became electric, we all became focused on the players below as they tried desperately to hit this green from close to 250 yards away.  Time seemed to fly by and my 5 hour shift was done.  I checked in with Jim over at the 18th tee grandstand, he had a couple hours to go in his shift, so I walked about spectating, ending up by the clubhouse.  The attendant at the main entrance recognized me from the rain delay on day 1 and let me through.   Inside, the place was like being in an old mansion, one small room after another, lots of old woodwork and displays of club history.  I eventually found myself in the small bar, just me, a USGA official, and three Japanese gentlemen watching a large screen TV with live Open coverage.  A waitress politely brought me a beer and I sat back to soak the atmosphere in.  What a great experience, Dan Jenkins was right!  I eventually texted Jim and told him where I was; he couldn't believe it.  I told him to meet me at the 18th green, whereupon I grabbed 2 beers and made my way over there, just in time to see Phil Mickelson and Luke Donald completing their round and exiting toward the clubhouse.  Jim soon arrived and we stood greenside in the spectator area watching the action.   After awhile, we went back into the clubhouse bar, just so I could give him a tour of the place, and get another beer, of course.  What a way to end our day as US Open marshals!  

US Open

Day 2   June 14, 2013

Always try to start my day of marshaling with a huge breakfast and the Residence Inn buffet was my idea of heaven.  Jim couldn't believe how much I could eat, but I told him, who knows when you'll get your next meal at the Open, might not be until our 3pm lunch break.  We got to Merion at 10:45, both of us assigned to the 17th grandstand for 1:30.  Once on the property I told Jim we needed to take a self-guided tour of the course, inside the ropes, beginning with the front 9, having great vantage points all along the way.  It was our opportunity to soak in the fact that we were at the historic course at Merion, a surprisingly small layout really, tucked into a nice residential neighborhood on the Mainline northwest of Philadelphia.  Jim and I moved about the course, basically at will, as if we were mobile marshals, helping out here and there with crowd control, crosswalks, allowing golf carts to make their way through the jammed pathways.  Jim was in total awe of this experience, the closest he'd ever been to the players other than having been at the 1st tee grandstand at Congressional.  We had a close view of Tiger, Rory, & Scott as they passed by, which was a real treat for Jim.

We eventual made our way to the clubhouse and tried to gain entry but we were stopped politely by an official, which was ok. As we approached the grandstand at 17, Jim was amazed at the size of the thing, his assignment yesterday at the 13th hole grandstand holding barely 100 people.  He wondered how we'd ever get the spectators to remain quiet while the players putted on the green below, to which I responded we probably wouldn't have to, it really depended on how strongly the captain wanted to handle the situation.  As it turned out, it was a very pleasant relaxing day, having plenty of laughs with the patrons on this sunny 75 degree day. Jim and I were among the few marshals signaling for quiet, but eventually this started to catch on and we had most of the marshals in our section following suit.  The grandstand never got fully packed so we weren't overwhelmed with a massive crowd.  Lots of people ended up dropping all kinds of things through the slats in the bleachers, with a few of us taking turns going on search parties underneath the huge structure. I think we collected a dozen umbrellas!  Our shift went until dusk at 8:30pm as the last group of players came through (Stricker, Mickelson, and Bradley).  Jim and I then followed this group down the 18th fairway, just inside the ropes, helping to marshal the spectators as the players made their approach shots to the green.  Later over dinner, I think Jim expressed his first interest at trying out the mobile marshaling thing at Deutsche Bank someday, he liked it inside the ropes.    

The 17th grandstand at Merion

US Open     June 2013

Merion Country Club      Ardmore, PA

Road trip from Cape Cod to Merion with my buddy Jim in his BMW X3, stopping on the way in New Haven, CT for pizza at world famous Pepe's, (in business since 1925).  Jim had been behind the wheel up to this point, but being a multi-tasking fiend he had been juggling his ipad, iphone, GPS, playing itunes, dialing up Pandora, and working on several marketing projects for his retail clothing business.  I was a wreck, so I was relieved to take the wheel for the remainder of the trip so he could really get down to business.  Made it to the Residence Inn after 6.5 hours and were immediately upgraded from a studio to a 2 bedroom / 2 bath suite; we were living large.  I have to thank my friend Mark Wetzel for our accommodations as he had originally offered to have us stay in his finished basement but had a bit of a flood the day before we were scheduled to arrive.  He graciously offered to put us up at the Residence Inn using some of his million air miles from all his overseas business traveling.  Mark, you are the best!

Day 1   US Open    June 13, 2013

Anxiously watching the Weather channel which was blowing up about all of the thunderstorms moving into the Philadelphia area.  Luckily we didn't have to be at Merion until 12:30 so we went to the breakfast buffet and ate a massive amount of food, not knowing when we might get our next meal.  A soaking rain passed through our area at 10, we waited it out then left at 10:30 for the designated USGA parking area.  When we arrived we were informed that the entire parking area had been switched at the last minute to a nearby mall, evidently for fear that the original lot located at a beautiful grassed park would be turned in a quagmire.  A hint of conditions we would encounter at Merion for the week.  After catching the 30 minute shuttle ride we finally arrived at the course.  We were both assigned as grandstand marshals at various locations throughout the week.   Jim headed left to the tiny 13th grandstand, tucked in beside the beautiful old clubhouse, while I headed toward the enormous bleachers at the 17th.  This grandstand easily held 3,000 people, with a fantastic view of the entire par 3 "quarry hole".  It also had a terrific view of the famous 18th tee and fairway, where so much history had been made, including the spot from where Ben Hogan made his splendid 1-iron shot to win the 1950 Open. When I arrived onto the grandstand, I checked in with the marshal's captain.  There were over 15 marshals assigned to this one grandstand, but most were just standing around in clusters, making no attempt to regulate crowd movement or noise as players were putting on the green immediately below.  The captain informed me that his relief for the afternoon shift was an hour late, and did I want the job?!  I was astonished that no system was in place, but I declined, having just arrived on site.  This grandstand was divided into 3 sections, one of which was for separate premium tickets holders.  There were 4 entrances to this huge grandstand complex, making it a logistical challenge.  I stayed on the general admission side for today's shift, and eventually things settled into some order for marshaling such a huge crowd.  Two replacement captains volunteered and worked up a plan.   We tried to limit movement on the noisy wood and metal structure to those times after the players exited the green. The 17th is such a difficult hole, 246 yards to carry the overgrown quarry wasteland, landing on a green guarded by 5 bunkers.  I saw only 1 birdie all day.

I took my lunch break at 3:30 over at the giant spectator pavilion behind us, an area which had been turned into a sea of mud, overlaid with straw due to the rain from this morning and earlier in the week.  What a scene watching the patrons pick their way carefully through this mess, high heels were having a tough go of it.  Noticed a large number of women in light summer dresses wearing fashionable calf-high designer rubber boots.  Quite the fashion statement!

At 5pm play was halted due to a weather delay and we made the USGA announcement to vacate the grandstand, with about half of the spectators complying.  I headed over to the volunteer pavilion by way of a quick tour of the back-9, finding the going tough in spots due to the mud churned up by the enormous crowds.  I was forced to walk inside the ropes most of the way just to keep moving as I eventually made my way over to the 13th hole grandstand to meet up with Jim.  By this time the rain was coming down pretty heavily and we were informed by headset to seek the nearest shelter due to a chance of lightning.  Being beside the clubhouse, Jim and I made our way up to the wonderful veranda fronting the entire structure, immediately beside the 1st tee.  This spot had once been described by the well known golf writer Dan Jenkins as the most pleasant place to sit and relax, in all of golf.  So here we were in amongst all the players, caddies, wives, girlfriends, and Merion members, sitting on the low stone wall at the edge of the porch.  Jim was getting a little nervous hoping we wouldn't get kicked out.  I told him we were just following orders to seek the nearest shelter, and to just act like he belonged and no one would bother us.  We were soon offered a drink from a passing waitress but declined as we were technically still on duty.  What an experience!  After a 45 minute weather delay, the horn for resumption of play sounded and I headed back to 17, where only a few marshals returned for the rest of play, which was eventually called on account of darkness.      

Me and Jim at the historic Merion clubhouse enjoying our well earned beers