US Open

Day 4    June 16, 2013    Father's Day

Jim and I decided to park closer to the course rather than spend extra time taking the shuttle, which would be swamped at the end of play later today.  Found a spot for $25 in someone's driveway; every house had a parking sign in the neighborhood surrounding Merion.   We entered through a different gate than other days, placing us at the opposite end of the course, a long way from my assignment at the 7th green grandstand.    No problem, we went over to the cart area beside the clubhouse and the attendant was nice enough to loan us one under the circumstances.  I arrived at 9:00 for my 8:15 assignment, but I needn't have hurried as I got there even before the hole captain.  Very few spectators at that hour as well.  Met the area captain, in charge of 3-4 grandstands in this section of the course, nice kid, said it was his first marshaling experience, and he was assigned to a supervisory position.  He was doing a great job taking care of us all day, bringing water to our crew of 4 marshals as we worked, very little shade at this spot.  The 7th is a nice par 4, I was placed perfectly to watch all the approach shots coming straight at us, plus was perched directly over the 8th tee, with a great view of that as well.  Got a little tricky at times as the 7th green and 8th tee were so close together that we had to keep things quiet for both areas. Our grandstand was tiny, holding only 100 people, so this really wasn't too difficult, we got to know lots of fans as it became a pretty cozy viewing area.  Worked with some great marshals, especially Joe and Richard, two brothers who had worked a combined 11 US Opens.  Joe was so into it, he'd even gotten his name monogrammed onto his volunteer golf shirt just for the occasion.  The grandstand reached capacity around 11:30 and stayed that way until I was relieved at 12:30, my next assignment starting at 2:30 at the 12th green grandstand.

I grabbed lunch at the concession stand between holes 10 & 12, then sat in the shade to watch the play on 11.  This is such a terrific hole, with water and bunkers making for a very difficult approach shot.  Lots of history made here in past championships.  After lunch I headed over to the 12th green side grandstand, meeting Bill the captain, nice Southern gentleman, who I'd worked with earlier in the week on 17.  This was a medium sized location, holding around 500 at capacity.  The 12th hole is a par 4 uphill dogleg right, tough birdie hole, saw very few during my 4 hour shift.  After an hour, Bill told me his relief at captain was 2 hours late, another no-show.  He asked if I would captain the afternoon shift, getting the headset on and organizing our 5-man marshal crew.  Great bunch of guys to implement the plan for coordinating spectator traffic flow, designating the 2 stairways as either entry/exit only, writing re-entry passes, with 2 marshals working the aisles and signaling to me how many people to admit.  We reached grandstand capacity for the last 5 player pairings by late afternoon, no one wanting to give up their seats on Sunday at the US Open.  Really enjoyed interacting with the fans, fielding lots of questions about what it was like volunteering, how did I get involved in this, etc.  Fans were very cooperative despite the packed house, maintaining a hushed atmosphere as players worked on the 12th green just a few feet below us.  Excitement continued to build as Justin Rose, (who would eventually win), Jason Day, & Luke Donald played through, culminating with Phil Mickelson and Hunter Mahan, the final pairing.  To add to the drama, it started to rain over the last 30 minutes of play, with one rumble of thunder heard in the distance, threatening to halt play and postpone the outcome.  I prayed that wouldn't happen, which would have required us to evacuate the grandstand.
After Phil and Hunter passed through, all the spectators began to file out, with countless fans thanking us marshals for our efforts, keeping the crowd under control without being over-bearing, finding seats for everyone, keeping sight lines unblocked, and basically ensuring a great fan experience.  This makes  our job that much better.  We're paying for the privilege to volunteer, putting in long hours, but are paid back with those appreciative comments.

I met up with Jim and we went for food to map out our strategy for the big finish of the tournament.  Much as we did at Congressional, we figured there would be a need for extra marshals at the 18th green.  We met with the hole captain there who was anxiously working the chute between the ropes heading from the green to the clubhouse where players would exit and greet their families.  A huge crowd had gathered behind the ropes including player's wives/girlfriends, media of all types, police, USGA officials, friends, and all sorts of beautiful people.  I offered our services to the captain and he immediately placed us in the chute to help with keeping it open between the ropes, Jim and I on either side, only 8 feet apart.  From our vantage point we could see each player as they finished on the green, shook hands, then proceeded toward us to make their way to the scoring area inside the clubhouse.  Invariably each one was stopped by people in the crowd to exchange greetings and fist-bumps before they moved on, passing between us. Jim introduced himself to a lovely woman standing behind the rope, who was quite pregnant, even offering to bring over a nearby folding chair for her.  She graciously accepted, turns out she was Hunter Mahan's wife.  Jim had another close encounter with a player as he later happened to be standing by another beautiful woman, holding a small baby, Mrs. Jason Day.  When he came by after his round to embrace his family, it almost looked like Jim was going to get a hug too. The look in Jim's eyes was fantastic, he couldn't stop saying "its like we've got all access passes!"  I chatted with two gorgeous women, a photographer for a Baltimore newspaper and a Brit who was absolutely ecstatic about Rose's apparent victory. The atmosphere rose to a high pitched roar as Rose putted out at +1, with only Phil in any position to catch him from behind, if he could birdie 18.  Unfortunately for him it didn't happen, so close.

The tournament over, we walked into the clubhouse, intending just to use the bathroom but when a passing waitress handed us two beers, decided to hang out awhile in the grill room, soaking it all in at the last.  What a tremendous finish to a terrific experience at Merion.

Jim and I raising a glass to toast a successful US Open at Merion

Phil putting out at 12th green. That's me just above him on the grandstand.

 

US Open

Day 3    June 15, 2013

Got an early start to breakfast, chatting with the cook about our need to start even earlier tomorrow, before the buffet opened.  She very graciously put together a breakfast tray for the two of us, such a nice lady. She knew we were volunteering at the Open and thanked us for our efforts.  My shift today was scheduled to start at 10:30 so we were off to Merion by 9:30.  On the way we received a call from Jim's wife Amy who made lots of funny comments about Jim's big day at the Open yesterday, inside the ropes.  I arrived at my assignment on the 17th grandstand, which was only 20% full at that hour.  I was pleasantly surprised when one of the grandstand co-captains held a meeting of the 20 or so marshals, to strategize our plan for managing this huge location.  One of the primary concerns was implementing the USGA system of allowing fans to leave the grandstand when it was at capacity, yet still be able to re-enter and not lose their seat.  To do this, we had to station a marshal at every exit, issuing a ticket on which he would write the exact 1 hour time limit for when the patron could return.  Sounds simple but in practice was virtually unmanageable.  In addition, we had to develop a system for limiting entry to the premium corporate grandstand section requiring a pass since on prior days lots of unauthorized fans were filling in empty seats in this section.  We were planning on being filled to capacity as the day wore on so we needed a plan.  I was assigned to the corporate entry stairway, checking everyone's passes.  All of us marshals were also attempting to maintain some crowd control while players were putting, which included restricting movement on the bleachers frequently.  This worked out quite nicely except for the occasional patron who would try to bluff his way into the corporate area without the proper pass.  The grandstand reached full capacity around 2:00pm, over three thousand people.  At this point the atmosphere became electric, we all became focused on the players below as they tried desperately to hit this green from close to 250 yards away.  Time seemed to fly by and my 5 hour shift was done.  I checked in with Jim over at the 18th tee grandstand, he had a couple hours to go in his shift, so I walked about spectating, ending up by the clubhouse.  The attendant at the main entrance recognized me from the rain delay on day 1 and let me through.   Inside, the place was like being in an old mansion, one small room after another, lots of old woodwork and displays of club history.  I eventually found myself in the small bar, just me, a USGA official, and three Japanese gentlemen watching a large screen TV with live Open coverage.  A waitress politely brought me a beer and I sat back to soak the atmosphere in.  What a great experience, Dan Jenkins was right!  I eventually texted Jim and told him where I was; he couldn't believe it.  I told him to meet me at the 18th green, whereupon I grabbed 2 beers and made my way over there, just in time to see Phil Mickelson and Luke Donald completing their round and exiting toward the clubhouse.  Jim soon arrived and we stood greenside in the spectator area watching the action.   After awhile, we went back into the clubhouse bar, just so I could give him a tour of the place, and get another beer, of course.  What a way to end our day as US Open marshals!  

US Open

Day 2   June 14, 2013

Always try to start my day of marshaling with a huge breakfast and the Residence Inn buffet was my idea of heaven.  Jim couldn't believe how much I could eat, but I told him, who knows when you'll get your next meal at the Open, might not be until our 3pm lunch break.  We got to Merion at 10:45, both of us assigned to the 17th grandstand for 1:30.  Once on the property I told Jim we needed to take a self-guided tour of the course, inside the ropes, beginning with the front 9, having great vantage points all along the way.  It was our opportunity to soak in the fact that we were at the historic course at Merion, a surprisingly small layout really, tucked into a nice residential neighborhood on the Mainline northwest of Philadelphia.  Jim and I moved about the course, basically at will, as if we were mobile marshals, helping out here and there with crowd control, crosswalks, allowing golf carts to make their way through the jammed pathways.  Jim was in total awe of this experience, the closest he'd ever been to the players other than having been at the 1st tee grandstand at Congressional.  We had a close view of Tiger, Rory, & Scott as they passed by, which was a real treat for Jim.

We eventual made our way to the clubhouse and tried to gain entry but we were stopped politely by an official, which was ok. As we approached the grandstand at 17, Jim was amazed at the size of the thing, his assignment yesterday at the 13th hole grandstand holding barely 100 people.  He wondered how we'd ever get the spectators to remain quiet while the players putted on the green below, to which I responded we probably wouldn't have to, it really depended on how strongly the captain wanted to handle the situation.  As it turned out, it was a very pleasant relaxing day, having plenty of laughs with the patrons on this sunny 75 degree day. Jim and I were among the few marshals signaling for quiet, but eventually this started to catch on and we had most of the marshals in our section following suit.  The grandstand never got fully packed so we weren't overwhelmed with a massive crowd.  Lots of people ended up dropping all kinds of things through the slats in the bleachers, with a few of us taking turns going on search parties underneath the huge structure. I think we collected a dozen umbrellas!  Our shift went until dusk at 8:30pm as the last group of players came through (Stricker, Mickelson, and Bradley).  Jim and I then followed this group down the 18th fairway, just inside the ropes, helping to marshal the spectators as the players made their approach shots to the green.  Later over dinner, I think Jim expressed his first interest at trying out the mobile marshaling thing at Deutsche Bank someday, he liked it inside the ropes.    

The 17th grandstand at Merion

US Open     June 2013

Merion Country Club      Ardmore, PA

Road trip from Cape Cod to Merion with my buddy Jim in his BMW X3, stopping on the way in New Haven, CT for pizza at world famous Pepe's, (in business since 1925).  Jim had been behind the wheel up to this point, but being a multi-tasking fiend he had been juggling his ipad, iphone, GPS, playing itunes, dialing up Pandora, and working on several marketing projects for his retail clothing business.  I was a wreck, so I was relieved to take the wheel for the remainder of the trip so he could really get down to business.  Made it to the Residence Inn after 6.5 hours and were immediately upgraded from a studio to a 2 bedroom / 2 bath suite; we were living large.  I have to thank my friend Mark Wetzel for our accommodations as he had originally offered to have us stay in his finished basement but had a bit of a flood the day before we were scheduled to arrive.  He graciously offered to put us up at the Residence Inn using some of his million air miles from all his overseas business traveling.  Mark, you are the best!

Day 1   US Open    June 13, 2013

Anxiously watching the Weather channel which was blowing up about all of the thunderstorms moving into the Philadelphia area.  Luckily we didn't have to be at Merion until 12:30 so we went to the breakfast buffet and ate a massive amount of food, not knowing when we might get our next meal.  A soaking rain passed through our area at 10, we waited it out then left at 10:30 for the designated USGA parking area.  When we arrived we were informed that the entire parking area had been switched at the last minute to a nearby mall, evidently for fear that the original lot located at a beautiful grassed park would be turned in a quagmire.  A hint of conditions we would encounter at Merion for the week.  After catching the 30 minute shuttle ride we finally arrived at the course.  We were both assigned as grandstand marshals at various locations throughout the week.   Jim headed left to the tiny 13th grandstand, tucked in beside the beautiful old clubhouse, while I headed toward the enormous bleachers at the 17th.  This grandstand easily held 3,000 people, with a fantastic view of the entire par 3 "quarry hole".  It also had a terrific view of the famous 18th tee and fairway, where so much history had been made, including the spot from where Ben Hogan made his splendid 1-iron shot to win the 1950 Open. When I arrived onto the grandstand, I checked in with the marshal's captain.  There were over 15 marshals assigned to this one grandstand, but most were just standing around in clusters, making no attempt to regulate crowd movement or noise as players were putting on the green immediately below.  The captain informed me that his relief for the afternoon shift was an hour late, and did I want the job?!  I was astonished that no system was in place, but I declined, having just arrived on site.  This grandstand was divided into 3 sections, one of which was for separate premium tickets holders.  There were 4 entrances to this huge grandstand complex, making it a logistical challenge.  I stayed on the general admission side for today's shift, and eventually things settled into some order for marshaling such a huge crowd.  Two replacement captains volunteered and worked up a plan.   We tried to limit movement on the noisy wood and metal structure to those times after the players exited the green. The 17th is such a difficult hole, 246 yards to carry the overgrown quarry wasteland, landing on a green guarded by 5 bunkers.  I saw only 1 birdie all day.

I took my lunch break at 3:30 over at the giant spectator pavilion behind us, an area which had been turned into a sea of mud, overlaid with straw due to the rain from this morning and earlier in the week.  What a scene watching the patrons pick their way carefully through this mess, high heels were having a tough go of it.  Noticed a large number of women in light summer dresses wearing fashionable calf-high designer rubber boots.  Quite the fashion statement!

At 5pm play was halted due to a weather delay and we made the USGA announcement to vacate the grandstand, with about half of the spectators complying.  I headed over to the volunteer pavilion by way of a quick tour of the back-9, finding the going tough in spots due to the mud churned up by the enormous crowds.  I was forced to walk inside the ropes most of the way just to keep moving as I eventually made my way over to the 13th hole grandstand to meet up with Jim.  By this time the rain was coming down pretty heavily and we were informed by headset to seek the nearest shelter due to a chance of lightning.  Being beside the clubhouse, Jim and I made our way up to the wonderful veranda fronting the entire structure, immediately beside the 1st tee.  This spot had once been described by the well known golf writer Dan Jenkins as the most pleasant place to sit and relax, in all of golf.  So here we were in amongst all the players, caddies, wives, girlfriends, and Merion members, sitting on the low stone wall at the edge of the porch.  Jim was getting a little nervous hoping we wouldn't get kicked out.  I told him we were just following orders to seek the nearest shelter, and to just act like he belonged and no one would bother us.  We were soon offered a drink from a passing waitress but declined as we were technically still on duty.  What an experience!  After a 45 minute weather delay, the horn for resumption of play sounded and I headed back to 17, where only a few marshals returned for the rest of play, which was eventually called on account of darkness.      

Me and Jim at the historic Merion clubhouse enjoying our well earned beers

Day 4    September 3, 2012    Labor Day Monday    DBC

If you've read this far, you learned of my typical routine putting in a 12+ hour day at the DBC.  I was assigned to the Phil Mickelson-Jeff Overton pairing, teeing off at 1:00pm.  This was the 6th from last pairing of the day, Phil at -9, the leaders being Rory McIlroy at -16 and Louie Oosthuizen at -19.  We were set-up with a 4-person crew including Pam, Jim, and Tony, all of whom I'd worked with in the past and enjoyed their low-key competence in handling the larger galleries.  I'd scored some extra passes for today's final round so I went to the volunteer tent to see if I could arrange to have them sent over to the will-call booth at the Comcast parking lot.  I was astounded when I learned that a volunteer would drive them over to the VIP parking area for me.  I called my kids to let them know of this arrangement, and looked forward to seeing them on-site later in the day.

Our round with Phil and Jeff went well, starting with around 200 spectators, then building throughout the front 9 to around 1,000, pretty sizeable, but seemed small in comparison to yesterday w/ TW.  Had the usual demands of marshaling when the crowd was there primarily to see Phil, and needed frequent reminders to avoid moving while Overton finished his stroke.  Unfortunately, he is a relatively slow player, so keeping the crowd in place felt like we were repeatedly trying to hold back the tide.  I spent most of this round inside the ropes beside the players since maneuvering outside through the crowd would have been impossible.  On the 6th hole I got a text from our daughter Jill that she had arrived with our son Brian and his girlfriend Lauren, and that they were at the 7th green, keeping an eye out for me.  They spotted me as we made our way up the 7th fairway, and positioned our crew around the green.  Jill said I looked like I knew what I was doing!  I just barely saw them when we hopped into the stretch golf carts that transport us the 200 yards down to the 8th tee.  I thought that was the last I'd see them since the crowd were pretty massive on the cart path.  As I stood at the 8th tee, I was pleasantly surprised to see the kids make their way through the crowd, just as we were about to move on.  I grabbed some waters for them from the tee box cooler, then off I hustled to catch-up to the players as they walked to the green.  I next saw them along the 9th fairway and directed them to a great viewing area to the left of the 9th green.  As we strode past on our way to the 10th tee, I had a quick chance to say goodbye to them.  Jill called me later to say they really enjoyed their day, especially at the 9th green where they were closely positioned for all the final pairings as they came by (Tiger, Dustin Johnson, Rory, and Louie).  She said she was especially thrilled when Phil Mickelson looked her right in the eyes!  Brian was surprised how quickly we were moving along with the players inside the ropes, the kids couldn't keep up due the huge crowd of spectators.

Our back nine went well, always a thrill to come up 18 with Phil drawing such a positive response from the gallery all along the left side of the fairway.  Our crew then accompanied him and Jeff to the scoring trailer, interview area, and onward to the autograph pen.  I was positioned directly beside Phil as he signed for 25 minutes, I complimented him on his patience under the onslaught of the fans asking for his attention.  He finally made his way to the locker room entrance and was gone. I then headed back to the 18th green where extra hands are always needed as the DBC finishes on this Labor Day. I worked the crosswalk rope area awhile just as Tiger and Dustin exited from the green.  I then moved greenside for the final pairing, watching as Louie missed his putt that would have tied Rory and led to a playoff for the second year in a row.  After having seen Rory up close when he won at Congressional, it was nice to see him win at "my" tournament.        

Day 3    September 2, 2012   Sunday    DBC

One of the best days I've experienced as a marshal in 4 years of volunteering, I'd earned the coveted assignment to Tiger's group, teeing off at 1:35pm.  I would be part of a 6 person crew, including marshals chair Maureen, our mobile marshals co-chairs Karen & David, plus 2 other marshals with lots of DBC marshaling experience as well as at the Travelers tournament.  I'd learned over the previous years that this assignment wasn't everyone's favorite, several marshals had told me they didn't like the controlled chaos of TW's huge galleries, nearly crazed fans constantly showering him with all kinds of comments just to get his attention throughout 18 holes.  We'd see how this all turned out, I'd have to wait another 5 1/2 hours.

Had my usual volunteer breakfast which I brought up the player practice area to hang out with all my new buddies at the ball tent.  I was also getting to know several of the Norton police officers who stayed in the general area until they eventually left to escort their assigned players, kind of like us mobiles.  Always interesting hearing them talk about events of previous days in the tournament, especially the high-jinx happening yesterday on a hot Saturday afternoon.  At my second breakfast, met up with another marshal, Jim, as we sat at the 9th grandstand, terrific guy, very personable. He told me of the volunteer assignment his high school age daughter had as an observer, which included being stationed near the clubhouse locker room entrance, where she had lots of interaction with the players. What an experience that must have been, she'll be a DBC volunteer for life!  After a couple hours, went for lunch, (all I do is eat at DBC), sitting at a picnic table at the volunteer village, where I was soon joined by Maureen, Karen, & David, then Diane and John, our 6 person Tiger crew.  We worked out our plan for marshaling Tiger and Ryan Moore's gallery, including the need to be aware of fans attempting to take cellphone pictures.

The electric atmosphere of the "Tiger" gallery at the first tee was palpable, a phenomenon like no other at DBC.  As we made our way through the round, it grew from 2,000 to at least 4,000, a solid mass of people crowded around every tee box, 15 to 20 people deep in places.   I spent the entire day inside the ropes as there was no way to make it through these crowds otherwise.  Most of the time, I was within 10 to 20 feet of Tiger and Moore.  It was all we could do to keep control of the gallery, with our crew of 6, plus those marshals stationed at each hole.  There was always someone in the crowd yelling every variation of Tiger's name seemingly every five seconds.  I don't know how he was able to keep his concentration but it goes a long way toward explaining his need to have his game face on throughout 18 holes.  I'd go nuts if I was trying to play golf under these conditions. And yet, it made for the most intense mobile marshaling experience, especially since Tiger was in contention, playing in the second to last pairing of the day.

I had a great time, lots of positive crowd interactions, people asking all kinds of questions as we walked along, all kinds of reactions from fans whenever we asked them to put down their cellphones--"no pictures please'' was my near constant refrain.  I had two high school kids ask me how to become volunteers, they noticed our sign bearer walking with us, a position always reserved for our youngest volunteers.  They mentioned that they were on the golf team, I told them how to go on the DBC website and sign-up for next year.  Along the way I ran into Rex Hoggard of the Golf Channel, introduced myself and we chatted a bit as we walked along the front 9.  It was an overall great experience, no negatives from my perspective, a huge crowd but without mass chaos.   After we finished at the 18th green, we moved on to the scoring / interview area nearby, cordoned off from the massive crowds gathered behind barriers.  John & I positioned ourselves near Tiger and Ryan Moore as they were interviewed by NBC, then moved on with them to the autograph area. Five other marshals were already stationed there to handle Tiger's fans, we stayed off to the side with Moore.  Someone in the crowd asked him "what was it like to play golf with Tiger", to which he replied, "it is what it is!".  I think this is indicative of how exhausting it must be to a  player in the eye of the hurricane that is the ''Tiger'' gallery.              

Day 2      September 1, 2012    Saturday   DBC

At the morning assignment meeting, I had a pleasant reunion with Pat and Brian, two marshals I had met last year.  I was assigned as crew leader for the threesome of Webb Simpson, Louis Oosthuizen, & Bo VanPelt, teeing off at 1:10pm.  Decided to spend some of my waiting time marshaling for the Rory McIlroy,  Zach Johnson, and Jason Dufner group teeing off at 8:10.  Just nine holes though, have to save the legs for the main event later in the day.  I've calculated that the typical mobile marshal day of walking 27 holes at TPC Boston amounts to about an 8-9 mile walk.  The course is very spread out, especially the front 9, with lots of sections along wooden elevated cart paths through the marshlands between holes, a beautiful course.  I started with some breakfast at the volunteer pavilion then went to the ball tent on the players practice area.  Noticed Rory chatting with his girlfriend Caroline Wozniaki as he was getting warmed-up for his round.  When we got started, going off the 10th tee, I again noticed Ms. Wozniaki standing a short ways down the fairway.  Being the marshal crew leader, I approached her, introduced myself as being assigned to escort Rory's group, and let her know we would be able to offer any assistance if needed, (water, cart transport, or if she was being unduly bothered by fans).  She was very appreciative, but didn't request anything. We'd been instructed in our marshal meetings to offer these courtesies to make the DBC as pleasant an experience as possible to PGA TOUR players and their guests.

Rory had a huge gallery for this time in the morning, over 1,000 easily, as we made our way through his first nine holes. He was in the lead at 11 under par when I stopped after 9 holes to get lunch and rest up for the afternoon round.  Our volunteer lunch today was catered by Bertucci pizza, another nice perk for all the DBC volunteers.  Kind of comical though, hearing all of the hole marshal captains over the headset radio requesting pizza deliveries to the outermost holes.  At 1:00, I met my other four marshals at the 10th tee for our threesome with Webb, Louie, and Bo. I could tell right away we were over-staffed when only 50 spectators had gathered for this group.  I saw Webb's wife Dowd pushing a stroller along the 10th fairway cart path, introduced myself and offered any assistance she might need along the way.

Some strange things started happening in this round; one of our crew disappeared after the first hole, never to be heard from again.  Another member of our crew left after 4 holes; he'd walked 18 holes in the morning and then called it quits, heading over to a corporate pavilion on 16 where he had an entry pass evidently, cocktails included.  That left me, Dave and Jeff, still plenty of marshals for our small gallery, which by the end of our first 9 had dwindled to around 30 people.  As we made our way down the long walk to the first tee for our "back 9", we were stunned when we found out the small gallery had totally abandoned this group, even Dowd Simpson!  I was eventually able to arrange a reassignment for us back at the congested 15th/16th hole areas which is always pretty wild in the corporate pavilion area.  At this point, Jeff and Dave decided they'd rather find out where Tiger was in his round, and walk along with him.  I was sure that Tiger's group didn't need any extra marshals in the 8 man crew already assigned to him, as I'd already requested that reassignment for us.  Anyway, off they went, and I stayed at 16 for awhile, then went over to the 14th tee box in response to a request from the hole captain for some extra help.  After awhile I worked my way down to the 17th green, spending a bit of time talking with the serviceman tending the flagstick with the American flag rather than the standard DBC flag. He seemed like a great guy.  I could tell how honored he was with his assignment.  All along I was assessing the gallery size and heading for those areas where the need was greatest, eventually along the ropes on the 18th fairway.  Several stationary hole marshals in this area asked for suggestions, so I had them space themselves every 15 yards or so, to provide an extra presence on the finishing hole.  The gallery in this area near the 18th green was easily 10-15 people deep.  Things built to a roar as Tiger's group came through, once again demonstrating his incredible appeal to the golfing world.   After this whirlwind blew through and things settled down at 18, I took a deep breath and called it a day.