Day 2   The Presidents Cup   September 30, 2017

Sunrise view of clubhouse and Statue at Liberty National 

Had to be up by 5am and on the Liberty National course by 5:30, thankfully only 8 miles away via the spaghetti-like NJ highway system, but no traffic at this pre-dawn hour.  On arrival to the volunteer  HQ I finally got to meet our Roving Marshals chair, Sparky.  Nice fellow, he asked how I made out yesterday. I filled him in on my adventures at the 3rd hole crosswalk, the 9th green, and walking with the matches as a rover. He had no problem with everything I'd done and was glad I'd found something to do all day.  I was scheduled to work the #9 crosswalk (at the third green, go figure). I again confirmed that was the extent of my roving assignment, and he had no problem with me roving with the players as a mobile marshal for the rest of the day.  The walk over to the third hole was kind of spooky with the sky lightening up behind the city skyline and Lady Liberty to the east. At the crosswalk I met a nice chap named Glenn who had worked a Barclays and a couple US Opens but always in the merchandise tent, this was his first marshaling stint.  We didn't have much to do at this hour except chat with two area marshal coordinators who joined us.  It eventually got busy as play had begun at 7:02am, and all four matches had come through our spot by 8:30.  I said my goodbyes and tagged along with the final match, Justin Thomas & Rickie Fowler vs Louis Oosthuizen & Branden Grace. I also moved ahead to the DJ / Kuchar match with Scott / Hadwin.  It took awhile but I eventually caught up with the lead match of Spieth / Reed vs Day / Leishman, which ended on the 15th hole.  The crowd went pretty wild over this victory, only to be repeated on 15 green again with the next match, DJ and Kooch victorious as well.  On the way though, had some serious marshaling work to do when Adam Scott's drive went 30 yards offline beyond the ropes into a huge crowd.  When I arrived on the scene, 4 hole marshals had the ball surrounded where it had stopped on the cart path but were making no attempt to move the crowd back and create an alley for Scott to hit back to the fairway.  Bones McKay was with this group doing on-course commentary and joking to me how we had to get this crowd in order.  Scott had to take 3 separate ball drops to find a playable lie, a PGA official scrutinizing every move.  He couldn't see the green but hit a spectacular shot to get back in play.            

Jena and Paulina

 I continued on marshaling the other two matches as they moved on to conclude on 17 and 18.  The crowds were as thick as any I'd ever seen, and getting a bit chippy at times, alcohol fueled by midday. Comments of all kinds were being directed at the players, captains, wag's, some a bit tasteless.  DJ's wife Paulina especially drew a huge number of verbal proposals of all kinds.  Some partisan calls were also heard, some in poor taste, encouraging bad things to happen to the International's shots, "Go in the water!"  I witnessed some hilarious antics by the Fanatics, a group of about 10 International fans dressed in crazy drag and making up lyrics to songs to include players names. (see Youtube -- ''Si Woo, shaking his ass'').

I met up with David at the 18th green who was captaining this hole, we both agreed this was like DBC/DTC on steroids.  I felt the day would have been complete had it ended there, but we still had the afternoon matches to go.  Such a great experience already.  We went to a decent lunch in the volunteer HQ and compared experiences with Maureen who had been captaining 17.  They were surprised to hear I'd been roving along with all the matches and having a great time doing it.

I headed back out to join the fourball matches already in progress, catching up with Thomas / Berger playing against Matsuyama / Vegas, then dropped back for Chappell / Hoffman vs Kim / Lahiri.  Rickie Fowler had the afternoon off and was walking inside the ropes with this group. At one point he ducked into the bushes to answer the call of nature, but was gone so long the fans started calling out to him.  When he finally emerged I said to him he was lucky that a few fans didn't come looking for him.  He said thanks for waiting for him.  Charlie Hoffman hit a wayward drive on the fifth hole which had me and 2 hole marshals looking for it in the trees next to the water.  At one point Charlie began donning his waterproof pants and jacket but it was determined his ball was unplayable and he conceded the hole.  It was fun hunting for a lost ball, just like I often do when playing with my friends only this time it was Charlie Hoffman at the Presidents Cup!  I again dropped back to marshal the DJ / Koepka match against Grace and Leishman.  This was the last match and was accumulating the largest galleries, 8-10 people deep.  I had some instances where I was the only marshal in certain locations, having to quiet the comments coming from the crowd at times with a look and a "Come on guys!".  I heard a response, "Uh-oh guys, I think we made the marshal mad".

 It was especially crazy near any of the double decked corporate pavilions where the booze had been flowing since 7am.  A shot by Leishman outside the ropes on 11 had only 1 marshal on site until I arrived.   The crowd began giving the Aussie the business, until a PGA official accompanying us motioned to have a spectator tossed by police.   A bit chippy, those fans could take a few lessons in sportsmanship.   I gave the usual "Quiet please, hold your positions", and you could have heard a pin drop, I was psyched.  It continued on this way, huge crowds outside the ropes, a large group accompanying the players inside the ropes, and me, providing the sole mobile marshal presence but always helped by the hole marshals positioned at every tee and green.  I heard lots of wag's commenting on how cold it was as they were all bundled up in winter coats, hats, and gloves in the windy partly sunny 60 degree conditions.  It was great to see each match conclude on 15 through 18, with the potential of a USA victory on Saturday a real possibility.  I'd eventually made my way to the 18th green and was helping David a bit as we were hoping to witness a victory for the home team right then and there, but superb play by the Int'l team held on to end the day without yielding the Cup quite yet.  With only 1 point remaining, it was a foregone conclusion that the USA team would be victorious early on in tomorrow's singles matches. What a day, I'd spent 13 hours at Liberty National and it just flew by.

I would eventually decide to forego the Sunday singles matches as anticlimactic.  The need for roving marshal help was virtually non-existant as they wanted us to be on the property at 8:30am, despite the fact that the first singles match didn't tee-off until noon. I texted my apologies to Sparky and also to David wishing him, Maureen, & Karen well.   I headed back home and arrived in time to see the conclusion of the singles matches on TV, including Daniel Berger's deciding putt to make it official.  I'd made the right decision as I heard the players comment at their celebratory press conference that it had been a weird day, nothing really at stake, sparse crowds, and anticlimactic.  It had been a terrific experience for me, different from FedEx and US Open events, especially Saturday's competition.  So fortunate to have been there!