Day 3  Sunday  September 4, 2016

Unfortunately forgot to bring my phone with me to TPC Boston, I blame it on only being half-awake as I got in my car at 5:30am and took off.  Oh well, it was like a throwback to the days not so long ago when cell phones were completely prohibited from any PGA TOUR event, and were even confiscated at times.  I guess the only real down side to today was that I wouldn't be able to text everyone to let them know who I was assigned to so they could watch for me on the NBC broadcast.  I was assigned along with Tony, Brian, and Mike to the number one pairing of the afternoon, Jordan Spieth and Sergio Garcia, teeing off at 12:25.  Went for breakfast and was joined by Diane, a lovely person who has marshaled forever at both at the Travelers and DBC.  She had sustained a shoulder injury last year and we discussed her lengthy course of rehab, everything is okay now.  Being employed in the rehab business myself, it was an opportunity to get to know one of my fellow marshals from another perspective, since we all lead real lives outside of the DBC bubble.  Tony joined us and we talked of our experience yesterday, handling the enormous gallery with only 3 marshals,  Diane complimented us on our marshaling skills, saying "we're really good!" I spent the next 3 hours doing a variety of things to pass the time including hanging out at the range, shopping at the merchandise tent, checking out all the vendor tents, reading the DBC section of the Boston Globe, and ending up having lunch at the 19th Hole concession stand, not my usual spot but the grapevine had alerted us to a wider assortment of dining options for our meal scrips.  Sat with Jack and Jimmy, who had just finished their morning round with Jason Day in record time, under 4 hours.

Made my way to the first tee where a gallery of 500 or so had gathered in absolutely beautiful conditions, sunny, 76 degrees, slight breeze but no humidity.  Had a terrific round with Spieth and Garcia, lots of positive comments and shouts of encouragement coming from the ever-growing gallery.  A few Ryder Cup-style chants again.  Became puzzled by this year's latest shout-out, "Hurambe", which none of us marshals knew the meaning of in relation to a PGA event.  We eventually found out that Barstool sports was running some kind of contest in which the objective was to have your shout-out captured during the tv broadcast.   I had more than a few interactions with perplexed spectators who, like me, couldn't see the connection between Jordan Spieth and the unfortunate demise of a gorilla.  By this time of day, lots of adult beverages had been consumed, resulting in all manner of shouts, all of them loud, some pretty dumb, a few being the kind of thing you hear at a Boston sporting event nowadays, "Free Brady" and the worst one of the day, "Goodell sits down when he pees!"

Both Spieth and Garcia played excellent golf, making it easy for us in that there was only one instance of a ball landing outside of the ropes.  Spieth overshot the 7th green, the gallery now numbering over a thousand, standing 5 deep around the green but making an alley for Jordan to play a tremendously delicate chip shot.  Great stuff!  We got several thank you's from hole captains as we made our way through 18 holes, keeping the river of people jockeying for position from getting out of hand and distracting the players. From hole 15 on, the cart-paths were completely jammed with spectators, forcing us to walk the player's routes tee to green, something we try to avoid if possible.  Tony commented that he was going places he'd never been and taking routes he'd never taken in all his days at DBC.  Lot's of "hold please" commands from us without getting bossy.  Tony and I definitely did a lot of work and he thanked me for a job well done as we exited 18.  I enjoyed every minute of it.