The Travelers Championship   June 24, 2023   Saturday

It was an unusual start to the day as rain forced the PGA to delay and reconfigure the starting times to 10:45am in threesome off the 1st and 10th tees, therefore compressing the day to finish in the allowed TV time slot by 6PM.  It meant a blessedly leisure morning, not having to be at TPC until 9:30AM.  On arriving, a light rain made me think it wasn't going to be too bad at all, we even held our assignment meeting outside in the usual spot.  I was assigned to Scottie Scheffler, Tom Kim, and Aaron Rai, with a 2-person crew, both experienced Mobile Marshals, Cecelia (Cece), and David.  It started to rain again, so I got breakfast in the Villa, sitting with Ryan and Rick, my crew from yesterday.  They were still jazzed by having their first exposure to the Mobiles experience and had lots more questions about my other adventures marshaling at various venues.  As my player tee-off time was drawing nearer, and it was still raining, I made the decision to get one of those plastic ponchos they have for us, a big white Hefty bag-style thing with armholes and large red Travelers umbrellas all over it.  I tried it on and thought this will really be embarrassing to have to wear this for any length of time.   I was closely monitoring my weather app on my phone and was very fortunate that the rain cleared and the sun came out 5 minutes before our teetime.  The poncho went into my pocket for rain insurance.  

We had a very easy time of it all day since all three players were consistently landing their drives in the fairway, not needing any extra effort from us.  Cece was especially sweet and very attentive to my guidance, admitting to being a little rusty with Mobile marshaling protocol, not having worked a Travelers for a few years.  She essentially followed along with me beside the players while David worked in a forward position mostly.  He and I ended up communicating with hand signals generally, as he was a bit hard of hearing anyway!  

I had a surprise on the 13th hole when I ran into my wife's nephew Michael, who I didn't even know followed golf.  He was equally surprised to see me, and jokingly said if he'd known I was volunteering, he would have asked me for tickets!  I could only chat with him a few minutes as I had to keep pace with the players, who move much faster than the gallery.  My wife Mary was shocked when I later told her I'd seen Mike. Good kid. 

Our unusual weather day turned out to be mostly dry, overcast, and not very challenging actually.  Kind of unusual for Saturday on the PGA TOUR, when the crowds are generally larger and the beverages are copious all day.  Still, Cece said she had lots of fun and thanked me for all the direction I was able to give her today.