The FM Championship   Friday  August 30, 2024  

I felt pretty proficient in terms of mastering the scoring system by this point, it almost becoming second nature, but I hadn't been challenged with any complicated penalty entries yet, so I still had some lingering concerns.  Today's threesome included So Me Lee, Eun Hee Ji, and Matilda Castren.  Again having virtually no exposure to the majority of LPGA players, it was a challenge to differentiate one from the other to accurately enter their shot making for scoring purposes.  The scoring device interface was set-up with each player's data, including a photo, which greatly helped in tracking each one. In particular, So Me Lee wore a white hat in her picture, Eun Hee Ji a black hat, which they both thankfully did today as well.  So for the majority of the round, I found myself recording shot data as Black hat, bogey, White hat par, and so on.  What can I say?  

We were joined by a standard bearer today, Bob, a long-time veteran of 10 FedEx championships as a #1 hole marshal.  He needed some help initially as he had no score displayed on his board, thinking we would just be concerned with today's scoring.  I quickly got him set-up with the player's leaderboard standings, and continued to update their standings as the round proceeded.  Bob was funny in that he became focused on how poorly engineered the standard pole and display board were, too heavy, too short, and susceptible to windy conditions.  By the end of the round I think he had decided he'd found an opportunity for a retirement side hustle, reconfiguring and marketing standard bearer signs!  We had fun comparing notes from our respective TPC FedEx experiences.  He'd never walked the back 9 holes, having been assigned to Hole #1 exclusively.  I entertained him with a story for each hole from my mobile marshal days.  

Our group was low key, not much interaction between the players, although I heard Lee and Ji chatting in Korean frequently throughout the round.  All were playing consistently without much change in their leader board standings.  Castren went as low as -4 but fell back on our last hole, #9 after hitting into the treeline on the left fairway, asking me to call for a rules official.  This went quite smoothly, the scoring central radio system exceedingly efficient and prompt.  

Because we'd begun the round on #10 consequently concluding on 9, we were carted to the scoring tent at 18, where the officials reported there were no discrepancies between the player's cards and the scoring device entries.  That made my day.  It had been explained to me earlier that one of the main objectives in walking scoring was accurate shot reporting, as this information was instantly transmitted to the TV broadcast (Golf Channel) as well as to the various leaderboard displays throughout the course.  The objective was to avoid any inaccurate entries in scores, having to make on-course corrections.    

As I turned in my radio and scoring device at Scoring HQ, I made sure to check in with Larry the chairperson, and Mike of the LPGA about tomorrow's assignment.  The reason I was concerned was the FM volunteer website had me scheduled only through today, nothing for the weekend.  I figured this was a function of the field being reduced by the cut, and not yet knowing the weekend leaderboard schedule.  I was verbally reassured by both guys that I was definitely needed tomorrow and that I'd be receiving an email with details tonight...