Day 4    Monday    September 7, 2009

Last day of Deutsche Bank Championship, Labor Day Monday finish.  Went to TPC with my wife Mary, using the guest pass included in the volunteer package of benefits.  Told her to set her expectations low as I wasn't sure how much fun she'd have tagging along during my 6 hour assignment.  Thankfully I was assigned to the 12th green, which I'd found was the most interesting venue from the standpoint that this is where the players linger the longest.   We walked from the tee down to the green, accompanied by another marshal, who had become one of my buddies over the past few days at DBC.  Very personable guy, chatty without being a blowhard as a few of the other hole marshals turned out to be.
 Mary got a prime viewing spot at the 12th green, where I knew the players would pass close by on their way to the 13th tee.  She said she was tempted to make comments about their clothes, this being the beginning of the era of the well dressed young golf stud. Thankfully she restrained herself, mostly. The morning got off to a slow start, the galleries eventually building with name players including Rose, Donald, and Boo Weekly.  Was great being so close to the players, to clearly hear their discussions with their caddies in lining up putts, Boo's Southern twang, Rose's English accent.  The gallery accompanying Phil Mickelson and Brandt Snedeker numbered well over 1000, which presented the challenge of maintaining quiet after Phil sank his birdie putt and commented, "It's been 78 days, 13 hours, and 29 minutes since my last one," to the delight of everyone there.  We both really enjoyed seeing every player pass literally within 5 feet of our position at the rope, including Love, Gay, Bubba, Villegas, Perry, Yang, Toms.  The ultimate was the approach of the Tiger / Glover gallery, beginning to build at least 2 pairings ahead of them and eventually reaching 6-8 people deep along the fairway and around the green.  Thankfully they quieted sufficiently for Lucas and TW to make their putts, although it took us 4 hole marshals, plus the 6 mobile marshals accompanying them to make this happen in a relatively calm atmosphere.  Having Tiger pass by within touching distance was a surreal experience as he exited to 13.
My assignment officially over, we made our way over to the 18th green.  It was surrounded by a massive crowd, with the players a long way off, a much different vantage point than we experienced on 12 right at the rope.  Mary agreed that the live golf tournament was worth the trip, and that she planned to come back next year, and could I get an extra guest pass for her friend Amy?  I agreed I would try to get back next year but I had a change of assignment in mind having seen the mobile marshals accompanying the most notable players and providing extra crowd control.  Had to check that out, might be a tough assignment to get into.