Day 2   Saturday September 5, 2009

I was again up at 4:30am to leave before 5, not much preparation necessary as I know what to wear, the DBC volunteer uniform, and I get breakfast on-site.  Went to the practice range and sat in the grandstand to watch Charles Howell, Marc Leishman, Scott McCarron, and Kevin Streelman practice.  These guys are at the bottom of the leader board so they're teeing off early.  Walked out to the 12th hole, a very pleasant late summer morning, in the upper 50's at 7am.  Stopped to watch the TPC grounds crew setting the pin on the adjacent 11th green.  I observed the process used by the PGA TOUR official in testing the green speed with the Stimp-meter.  Evidently this green was playing noticeably faster yesterday; this morning registering 13 on the meter.  To slow it down to a more uniform 12 speed throughout the rest of the course, the grounds crew watered the green for about 20 minutes.

Began today's assignment at the lower crosswalk, near the 12th green, manning the ropes.  After 9 pairings passed through, was rotated back to the tee box.  Was a bit shocked when my Cape Cod buddy Degs appeared outside the ropes with his brothers and father.  I was eventually rotated down to the landing area along the left side of the fairway, near the Shotlink crew.  Degs came along with me and no sooner had I gotten into position when a wayward drive by a player landed in the rough, 20' off the fairway.  I located the ball, keeping far enough away from it so as not to disturb the lie, and placed one of our orange spotter flags about a foot away from it.  The player came up to the ball, a disgusted look on his face, grabbed the marker flag and threw it in my direction, with a gruff "Thanks". (Picture a lawn dart landing near my feet!)  I learned later that the pros don't necessarily like having attention drawn to their less than perfect shots by placing a marker nearby.  That was the one and only time I ever flagged a ball in my subsequent years of marshaling.  This player then proceeded to chunk his 2nd shot, then tomahawked his iron into the rough.  Not sure if he made the cut.

Definite different vibe overall inside the ropes now that the competition was for real, a more intense atmosphere than I experienced during the pro-am.