Day 4    September 5, 2011    Monday   Labor Day    DBC

Final day of the DBC, our morning assignment meeting informed us that most of the big name players were clustered from 11:55am to 12:35pm tee times, including Els, Dustin Johnson, Phil, Rickie, Watney, then there was a large gap until the last 3 pairings of the day, Kelly & Scott, Steele & Reavie, and finally, Bubba Watson & Jason Day.  I thought I'd be assigned to one of the earlier times, but was surprised when I wasn't called until the last group, scheduled for a 1:45pm tee-off.  I was psyched although, since there were five players tied at -10, with Bubba at -11, chances were good there would be a lot of lead changes throughout the day.  We'd be the last to finish, we just might not be the winning pairing.

So, had 5 hours to kill, spent eating, texting friends and family about my assignment, but with an upgrade in my usual routine of hanging out at the player practice area.  Rather than sitting in the packed grandstand, I stood inside the ropes at the ball tent, out of everyone's way, as players and caddies came up to get buckets of balls, all arranged by brand name so that players could practice using their own ball.  The players don't practice with ordinary range balls like the rest of us.  Phil is only going to hit Callaways, for example, knowing precisely how they respond to his swing.  Great atmosphere here as not only players and caddies, but also well known instructors, TV personalities, corporate staff, and various PGA personnel were milling about. Found little odd jobs to perform in this general area to help out at the practice range, making the time pass more quickly. Got to chatting with the volunteers staffing the ball tent, as well as two young female BMW representatives who were infatuated with Rickie Fowler and interested in hearing of my close encounters with him earlier in the week.   They were completely star-struck.

Met up with Rick our crew leader, at the first tee, great guy, has served as a marshal at countless Travelers tournaments, as well as most DBC's since its inception.  He and I organized our positioning relative to the players, each taking one side of the fairway or the other, but immediately adjacent to Bubba and Jason as we escorted them through the round.  The gallery was fairly large at the start, then grew substantially as we went along, picking up everyone along the way as we were last to finish.  Our round went well, although I had to feel sorry for Bubba, as it just wasn't his day to win DBC.  He started well with a one stroke lead, but played poorly and developed a negative demeanor, dropping back to -6 but rebounding with a birdie on 18 for a final score of 8 under par.  Jason Day gained 3 shots through the round to move to -13 but missed several crucial putts.  On four separate instances, I had tricky marshaling situations with shots landing outside of the ropes.  In each case I was the first marshal to arrive at the ball, just me and about 300 fans in the immediate vicinity, until reinforcements arrived from our crew and hole marshals stationed further down the fairway.  One especially tough situation arose when Day's ball landed 20 yards to the right off the 9th fairway, always a very crowded section of the course near the main spectator entrance.  Was a challenge making a path through the gallery back to the fairway for Day and his caddie, after which he gave me a nice "Thanks mate!"

Bubba Watson's wife, Angie, was walking along with us throughout the round, a seemingly very nice person, attractive, providing him with a supportive presence despite his difficulties.  This was the first time I'd ever seen a player accompanied by a spouse or girlfriend, maybe I just wasn't that aware in prior rounds. Our gallery experienced some drop-off in size as other players moved up the leader board, which was only reinforced when the TV camera crew and NBC on-course commentator Dottie Pepper abandoned us as well.  Still, as we made it through the 16th, 17th, & 18th holes, the crowd roars ahead made for an electric atmosphere.  We were informed by headset that a playoff might be a real possibility, the first one in DBC history.  The 18th hole was simply remarkable, packed from tee to green with over 20,000 spectators watching the final groups.  In the group ahead, Chez Reavie bogied, sending him into a playoff with Webb Simpson.  Even though Watson and Day weren't finished, Rick and I were immediately reassigned to go back to the 18th tee for the playoff.  As we headed there, we heard the huge double crowd roars as Bubba birdied and Day eagled, but too little too late to get into the playoff.  We were soon joined at the 18th tee by Simpson & Reavie, who arrived by golf cart, as well as several other carts with dignitaries including Seth Waugh.  The sight of the huge crowd gathered on the hill along the entire left side of the fairway was amazing.  Add to that the noise, including the blimp overhead, Roger Maltbie standing near us at the landing area for their tee shots, it was a fantastic way to finish the Championship.  Every other available marshal had been assigned to form a corridor leading from the 18th green back over to the 17th tee, but Rick and our crew stayed with Simpson and Reavie, up and over the ravine bridge to the 18th green, where they both putted out for incredible birdies, still tied.  This playoff situation was unique and thus being set-up on the fly.  The 12th hole captain, Doug, standing at the 18th green, gave me his headset, so that I could have immediate radio contact as we accompanied the players, as this adventure unfolded.  I made my way over to 17, but the players were transported by carts ahead of me and were already hitting their approach shots on this par 4, surrounded by corporate pavilions, making for a stadium-like atmosphere.  My headset was continuously filled with chatter, planning for contingencies if play continued beyond 17.  I hadn't even been able to make it to the green before Webb Simpson clinched it all, a thrilling end to a fantastic day.  The atmosphere had been great, not quite a US Open, but still really special.