US Open Friday June 17, 2022

I got a text as I was driving to TCC, informing me of my assignment to work a 2-man advance walking marshal group at 1:25pm with Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, and Hideki Matsuyama.  I've got to admit, I did a little fist pump as I was driving down Route 128!  Since I had hours to kill on arrival, I went to the merchandise tent to see if I could connect with any of my marshaling buddies, chatting for awhile with Jack Tanner, Esq., manning a cash register and apparently loving it.  I was accosted by one of his fellows, a perky senior citizen, who took a close look at my credential on which I'd attached some pins from my previous FedEx and US Opens.  She asked about these, but then curiously stated, "Your picture ID doesn't look like you.  Are you sure that is genuine?" I assured her that it was but that I've been known to be pretty unphotogenic.  She laughed. 

After lunch, I returned to the 19th hole HQ cabin to obtain the inside the ropes lanyard and meet-up with Ralph and Diana to go over the guidelines for ''advance walking marshals''.  I met Ben, my partner for the day, as well as two other guys who would be walking with a different group, all of whom were rookies to marshaling, no pro-golf tournament experience of any kind.   Ralph and Diana briefly mentioned the rules which we had gone over yesterday, stating JR from USGA would provide more training details shortly.  After about a 15 minute wait, no JR.  Ralph came back and said since I had so much marshal experience, maybe I could train these guys!  They had already been asking me a steady stream of questions while we were waiting, so I guess this made it an official USGA training session!  We talked for another 15 minutes, then it was time for us to head to the first tee to join Rory, Xander, and Hideki.  I wished the other two guys luck, knowing they were about to jump into the deep end of marshaling.  Ben agreed, saying he was very relieved that he would have someone with experience to show him the way.  He was a 24 year-old kid from Brookline who'd gotten the invite to volunteer over 3 years ago which had been generously offered by the USGA to any resident 21 or under.  He said he had no idea that it would turn out to be an opportunity to be inside the ropes with such a marquee group of players.  Ben was a quick study, learning as we went along, taking in all the subtleties of what to do, were to go, what to say, and be unobtrusive without being a hindrance to spectators.  There were lots of extra photographers and videographers inside the ropes for this assignment, covering Matsuyama for Japanese media, often blocking the view behind them.  Ben and I were repeatedly thanked by spectators for taking a knee while signaling for quiet.  Lots of photographers eventually followed our lead.  

We had a great time marshaling such an excellent group of players, much like yesterday in that there wasn't a lot of mass crowd movement jockeying for position at each tee.  Rory was definitely the crowd's favorite, as judged by the amount of shout-outs he received, but X-Man and H-Mat also got their share. We got to witness Rory's very unfortunate attempt to hack his way out of the knee-high fescue at the 3rd green, a collective moan coming from the crowd as his first two shots went mere inches.  Ben and I varied our positions throughout the round, sometimes quite close to the players as they made their way down the narrow chutes from green to tee, other times hundreds of yards forward.  This became crucial on the 8th hole when Schauffele's drive went well left, 20 yards beyond the rope, coming to rest against a tree root.  We assisted the hole marshals who had already begun to clear a path back to the fairway by the time we arrived on-scene.  Since a USGA rules official had to be called in, the added time allowed for a continuous gathering of more spectators, eventually numbering over 500.  It required about 8 marshals to fully shift the crowd after repeated requests by Schauffele's caddie.  Xander hit a beautiful shot back to the fairway under challenging circumstances, avoiding a big number.  I said to Ben afterwards, "Welcome to the US Open!" 

The reception for all these players was magnificent as we walked up 18, Rory especially beloved in the Boston area.    Ben later said to me that the whole day was one of the best things he had ever gotten to do and that he really appreciated having me guide him along the way.  We went back  to the cabin to return the green lanyard, (I was hoping they'd say, "Just keep it for the weekend"), but they were again non-committal about the USGA's plans.  This was a classic day at the US Open, big crowds at a big course, big names playing spectacular golf, which we got to witness close hand.