Travelers Championship Thursday 6/25/26

 While getting breakfast at the volunteer pavilion, I ran into my buddy Ben who I met at the training session. He asked how the prom went and was treating me pretty much as an equal in being part of the walking scorers team which implied he could tell I was doing pretty well. He reassured me that the time will come when mistakes are made, “we all do“ at the scorers tent. I got my assignment, Matsuyama and Echevarria. I met my bearer partner Tom 830 something guy who works at travelers as a software engineer, has two kids and lives in old Saybrook. Turned out to be a great guy, we talked throughout the entire round, but had to limit our conversation, sometimes secondary to the potential for distraction from the exact job at hand with scoring. It’s always so nice to have each player and their caddie come up to you and introduce himself and shake hands, both of them greeting us in English actually. I was admittedly a bit anxious at the first tea being on my own for scoring, but settled by the second hole into a step-by-step rhythm, recording each, and every shot for each player. A typical shot sequence involves making at least a six step process. Eventually, it felt like triggering the release button on the device for each ball. Strike was an integral part of the golfers experience on the course. It was an incredible experience to be in walking near the players from T box to green on every hole, hearing the player-caddie comments to strategize each shot. Unfortunately, with this pairing, they were speaking Japanese or Spanish to each other! The feeling I got was you developed tunnel vision, and screen out the gallery and any distractions so that you have a focus for what amounts to about 140 separate shot entries. Throughout around.

It was nice to have four of my family in attendance who I briefly encountered at the fourth hole and then again at the 17th Green. In each instance, they had to call out to me to get my attention as I was completely focused on scoring.. Couldn’t linger for a chat as play continues without a break.

After we finished the round, it was nice to be thanked in person by both caddies and Echevarria, and we received the traditional signed golf balls, both me and Tom. Tom and I then got a ride from the Clubhouse back to the scorers tent where I spoke with Nick and Mike, that chairman, about not being on the schedule for tomorrow I was told I will be assigned to a 1030 group Saturday and if I wanted, I could be on the bullpen tomorrow, just show up between 630 and 7 AM. With this in mind, I checked with Greg Hammond, the Mobile Ambassadors Chair chair about the possibility of working as a MA Friday if my services were not needed for scoring. He was more than happy to agree to receiving my help and to let him know tomorrow about my status. 

Travelers championship 6/24/26

 Today’s the day I get to see if I can handle the walking score device in actual use during play. Thankfully, the program requires only recording information for the pro. The amateur score is recorded separately, a simple number on a traditional scorecard. Upon arrival at the walking, scorer tent, I was met by Steve, who was assigned to walk with me throughout my round to assist as needed and answer questions if and when they arose. Steve’s been doing this for 26 years and is one of the half dozen honchos at Walking Scoring Chair who keep everything organized, but in the friendliest manner possible. That is a key factor to reiterate because I was entering what I always have considered a closed shop committee and I was hoping it wasn’t going to have much of an intimidating atmosphere since I was a rookie. It was overwhelmingly pleasant every step of the way, and reinforced my ultimate decision to attempt to learn this skill.

Prior to heading out for my prom assignment, I got to have a nice sitdown chat with Buddy Buder who was holding court at the Walking Scoring Chair. He reminisced with me about our mutual friend Jim Horvath, but also demonstrate a genuine interest in my background, including how long I had been involved at professional golf events. It seemed like everyone I ran into this week knew Buddy in some capacity or other, general generally mentioning that he was always the walking score for the final group on the leaderboard on Sunday.

I was assigned to Sam Stevens for the front nine of the program, to be followed by Brent Snedeker for the back nine. Sam was very personable asked where each of us was from and chatted. Periodically as the round unfolded. Alongside me was our sign bearer, Mike, who was a great asset to May in keeping track of Sam score, kind of in a check and balance way. We had an interesting collection of amateurs in this group a two, six, and 10 handicap, but found out that the 10 probably should have been recorded as an author as the round unfolded. , who was a great asset to May in keeping track of Sam score, kind of in a check and balance way. We had an interesting collection of amateurs in this group a two, six, and 10 handicap, but found out that the 10 probably should have been recorded as a 30 as the round unfolded. He was having a blast playing so poorly, laughing off every flu shot, so nobody got exasperated when he would be putting for a quadruple bogey. It later got to the point where Brant Necker was kidding him about his game and it got pretty silly. Example, on the 16th T over with a forest carryover water our “10 handicap with his ball and sent his divot flying into the water, a good 20 yards! It was hilariously bad. I was gaining confidence throughout the round, making recording each and every shot accurately on the device. It got to the point where Steve didn’t need to check me out at all on the back nine. To elaborate, each shot necessitates select, selecting the location from where it is originating parentheses T Fairway, rough, green, etc.), then holding the shot button until the moment the player impacts the ball with the club head, and releasing at that exact moment. This then triggers the tracking cameras located throughout the golf course which generate the ball light depicted on TV screens through a complex shot link hook up. In fact, it’s directly connected to the TV broadcast in that your radio is communicating directly with a producer rather than a scoring control official. You get used to it! I was very thankful that this first go round did not involve having to register any kind of penalty stroke or a shot into a water hazard or out of bounds. That was yet to come no doubt.

Travelers 2026

 Monday 6/22/26 still can’t believe that I am actually going to make an attempt at becoming a PGA TOUR walking score but here I am at the mandatory training session held on the Monday before the actual tournament. I was encouraged by the presence of the entire walking score committee made up of about 30 volunteers, assembled for a PowerPoint and hands-on training session led by a PGA TOUR official. I was paired up with a 20 year scoring veteran, Ben, who was a great guy in answering my rookie type questions and pointing out a few things as the training went along. The scoring device use is so detailed and complicated that it was somehow reassuring that even better in volunteers benefited from the refresher course. I, on the other hand, had only been exposed to the process via an online training class, followed by a quiz with a strict pass or fail threshold. Luckily, I passed!