The Travelers Championship June 23, 2023 Friday
Nice knowing I'm going to be a lead marshal every day of this Championship, as Greg has designated 6-7 of us to serve as leads all week. We get to keep our radios overnight, just swapping out the battery at the end of the round. My good friend Chris Rogers was there today, serving as lead as well; we got to spend some time after our 6AM meeting, sitting in the Volunteer Villa over breakfast, swapping stories about what we've been up to since we last saw each other at the US Open. He's headed over to Scotland in September to play St. Andrews!
My player group (Keegan Bradley, Xander Schauffle, & Emiliano Grillo) weren't teeing off until 12:40. My assigned crew of 3 marshals, (Father and son Rick and Ryan, as well as Jim), were all newbies to the Mobile experience, but had previously served as hole marshals here at The Travelers. We had a little training meeting to go over the basics; they were all enthusiastic, asking lots of pertinent questions, getting excited I could tell. They all proved to be excellent Mobiles, quick studies, receptive to direction but not needing a lot. Unfortunately we had a long wait ahead of us before tee off time, as usual. To kill time, I pledged to myself I wasn't going to do two things: walk with another group or drink too much coffee! Serious pacing needed today, so I sat at the 10th tee watching some golf while I had my second breakfast. I was also scouting out a plan for my sister Shirley and her son Adam who would be in attendance today, attempting to arrive in time for my afternoon assignment. I identified for them the grandstands at the 9th green and 10th tee, just inside the main entry gate as the best possible viewpoints, requiring the shortest walks.
A very large gallery had assembled at the 1st tee, where I chatted with Chris and Greg before they headed out with the 12:30 group. My crew assembled, along with a 5th marshal, Andrew, an experienced mobile, who Greg had added to my crew at the last minute. My guys worked really well together, some forward, some back with the players, quickly recognizing each situation to determine their best positioning. Checking in with me to decide to go right versus left side of the holes for the most efficient coverage, but always observant of where players drives were landing, as indicated by the orange signal paddles at the tee box. If we saw a ball headed outside the rope, I wanted every available crew member to head to that side accordingly to help out the hole marshals. Shirley and Adam caught up with me on the 3rd hole, having been waylaid by the parking lot traffic and sizable crowds at the main gate. They got to see Big Brother in action, taking photos and video. Keegan displayed some erratic ball striking on the 4th and 5th holes, necessitating some crowd control, especially on #5 when Keegan and his caddie, after lengthy discussion decided to play down the 6th fairway in order to achieve the best angle for approaching the 5th green. This of course meant some creative gallery control on our part for basically 200 yards, outside the ropes the entire time. Bradley was playing brilliantly, -8 for the day, literally worshipped by the gallery the entire way, and was tied for the lead by the end of the day at -15. The scene at the 18th green was so heart-warming, with Keegan greeted to a tumultuous gallery support, his family there for him as well. We were having a great time serving as his Mobile Marshal crew, managing a gallery of over 1000 people in places, all part of a marquee cluster of 9 players including Patrick Cantlay playing in front of us, and Homa, Clark, and JT behind. We encountered 3 bouts of warm refreshing rain during the day, but when the sun returned it became a sauna. Shirley said later she doesn't know how I can walk the distances I do in these conditions as she was exhausted by the end of the day, trying to keep up with our group. As we walked off 18, I thanked my crew for the wonderful job they did. They unanimously agreed Mobile Marshaling beat being a hole marshal, even though it was more physically demanding, and that they would never go back!
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