The 2011 Deutsche Bank Championship     TPC Boston

Day 1    September 1, 2011

Pro-Am day

The day got started at 4:30 am so I could allow enough time to take care of business before driving 72 miles to arrive in time for the 6:15 mobile marshals assignment meeting.  As we assemble its great to renew old acquaintances with everyone I haven't seen since last year's DBC.  Our co-chair leaders Karen and David do a terrific job at that hour getting us up to date with various PGA rules we've got to pay attention to, including the official credential color of the day. Unauthorized media photographers occasionally slip inside the ropes and have to be politely removed.  I'm assigned as lead marshal for Rickie Fowler for a 1:00pm tee-time, so I have to kill roughly 6 hours until then.  This is what makes for a very long day and discourages lots of my friends from signing on to be mobile marshals, but I'm just insanely psyched about the whole experience, so I find plenty to do to pass the time.  After all, I'm at a PGA TOUR tournament, inside the ropes.  Could you get the equivalent experience at any other athletic event?
I've perfected the process of having a Dunkin Donuts breakfast at the volunteer tent, then volunteering to marshal for 9 holes with any particular player that interests me and might draw a significant size gallery.  I consult our tee sheet and see that Keegan Bradley is about to tee off so I head over to the first tee to walk along with the other marshals assigned to his small gallery of about 50 people, half of whom seem to be his extended family.  He had just won the PGA and was a hot young golfer, in addition to being from New England.  Seemed like a really nice kid, lots of interaction between him and the amateurs.  Playing with him was Seth Waugh, CEO of Deutsche Bank, so this pro-am group was a big deal with some heavy hitter executives rounding out the five-some.  Behind us was the Bubba Watson group, which made for a few fun moments when he yelled over from the 1st tee, kidding Keegan about his course management and swing thoughts.
After 9 holes I left Keegan and company to save my legs for an additional 18 holes later on.  At this point I got an iced coffee and went to the practice range area, sitting in the grandstands and taking a few pictures of players.

Justin Rose

Dustin Johnson

Jason Dufner

 Afterwards, I cashed in my lunch voucher and sat in the volunteer tent with Darren and Tom, my crew for this afternoon with Rickie. We eventually headed over to the 1st tee to get set for our round, Rickie arrived by cart and ended up standing near us.  After greeting him, I asked about his filming a PGA Tour commercial featuring him riding a dirt bike around a golf course and performing various stunts, including knocking a ball into a hole.  He said he did most of the stunts himself, but wasn't allowed to do the final one due to liability restrictions.  I was once again impressed with how approachable he was, willing to interact with us all, not in the least bit arrogant.  As it turned out, everyone in his gallery got a chance to get an autograph or picture with him as the pro-am pace of play was glacially slow, with lots of time waiting on each tee box.  We did have some extra excitement later in the round as two women joined our group of amateur players, walking in high heels inside the ropes in the middle of the fairway, definitely against PGA regulations. I spoke with them and politely requested that they remain outside of the ropes, which lasted about 2 holes, then they reappeared.  Evidently, they were "the rules don't apply to us" types.  I radioed ahead to our chief marshal Maureen, who met with them as we were exiting the 9th green, a Norton Police officer beside her, offering to escort them from the property if there were any further infractions.  They were quite indignant, saying they were bored with all that walking anyway and would meet their amateurs at the Grey Goose pavilion.  As it later turned out, Rickie's gallery petered out by 5pm on this warm Thursday afternoon, so we were relieved of duty by the 14th hole.  But just as we were leaving, the girls returned.  I asked them to behave themselves for the rest of the round, which I'm sure they did!