Gorgeous weather, so much better than yesterday. Great sunrise on the drive up from the Cape. David asked me if I could do a double shift, nine holes with Jason Day and Nick Taylor, then after a break, work the marquee group of Spieth and Paul Casey in the afternoon. Glad he has enough confidence in me and a few others to rise to the occasion on what always proves to be a thrilling and exciting final day at TPC Boston. Watching Day warm up at the range was great, such power and control.
Jason Day warming up
We had a large crew set-up for the Spieth-Casey pairing this afternoon, (Maureen, Karen our co-chair,
Tony, Jack, & Chris). Over lunch we strategized to address issues such as the exit chutes green-to-tee, which Spieth had complained about. We'd been told that the chute widths couldn't be widened by repositioning the ropes at this stage. Would have solved the problem. It seemed a contradiction in reality as yesterday Spieth seemed to enjoy high-fiving the fans on both sides as he made his way down each crazy corridor.
We were accompanied by David Feherty all day doing on-course commentating. A couple of times I was positioned right next to him, close enough to make a comment or two but restrained myself as he was getting a near constant bombardment of shout-outs from the crowd. He's here working! Had a thrilling moment on the 2nd fairway when Hadwin's errant drive almost hit me, landing outside the ropes. I was the first marshal to arrive at his ball and quickly got the crowd to give it some room until he and his caddy arrived and surveyed the situation. By then our crew had a gallery of hundreds positioned so they could hit back to the fairway. I had a fan actually thank me for the quick work it took to get everyone in position.
I had a great time working with Tony, Chris and Jack, as we all attempted to escort the players through the gauntlet of fans at every chute. That, as well as the usual cart path crowd control with Chris stationed inside the ropes, signaling me when the players had finished putting. He's 6' 4'' but all I could see was his upraised arms at times over a crowd 4 & 5 people deep. This was his first marshaling experience and he turned out to be a natural. The event built in drama as we entered the 16th hole stadium atmosphere when there was a 3-way tie for the lead, Spieth, Casey, & Justin Thomas at -15. We didn't want to mention the dreaded 'playoff' word over the headsets as it's a logistical overload to handle. It was quickly over, however, as Spieth could only manage pars on 16 & 17 while Thomas birdied and leaped ahead to win by 3. We escorted Spieth and Casey to the interview area where several other marshals had gathered and awaited the outcome as Thomas finished on 18, making it official. It was great to see Spieth interrupt his press conference to come over to Justin Thomas and congratulate him on his victory. The comradery amongst today's top group of young players is refreshing. So glad I've been able to be there to witness it up close.
Jordan congratulating his buddy Justin's victory
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