Day 2  Saturday  September 3, 2016  

Assigned to the premier group of players, (Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, & Patrick Reed) with my buddy Tony, along with our mutual friend Jimmy, a great marshal with a very dry sense of humor who has tendency to have a witty quip ready for any occurrence as the day unfolds.  Nothing phases him.  Since our group wasn't teeing off until 1:40 pm, David asked if I could help with a morning group, initially assigning me to walk with Rory McIlroy, then later switching me to Jordan Spieth.  Great, this would give me an extra hour for breakfast, sitting at my usual spot on the porch of the volunteer pavilion, chatting with my fellow marshals.  As things worked out, Dave came by with a change of plans due to one of our marshals being delayed, and asked if I could switch back to walking 9 holes with McIlroy.  No problem, but no leisurely breakfast, had to be on the first tee in half an hour.  We had a 4-man crew, Rick, Geno, and another Rick (a rookie).  Just a word about two of these guys, to give you an idea of how deep the marshaling thing runs in all of us.  Rick told me this was his 34th tournament, combining The Travelers and Deutsche Bank!  Geno has marshaled at a mere 20 or so combined! And here I am at my 11th, I felt like a rookie by comparison.   This was my first time working with Geno, great guy, outgoing personality, completely positive outlook which is instantly perceptible on meeting him.  The gallery fed off his vibe and did anything he asked of them, ( "Please hold your positions").

I had a great time walking the front nine with Rory, Tony Finau, and Jim Herman, being positioned about 100-200 yards ahead of the players, not my usual position but enjoying the different perspective it offered.  As I'm usually the lead marshal I tend to position beside the players, but in this instance I was happy to help out where I was needed most.  We were marshaling a decent sized gallery of 200-300 spectators for early on a Saturday morning in very pleasant conditions, temp in the low 70's with hazy sunshine.  Our round went very smoothly, only one instance of crowd control when Rory hit outside the ropes to the right off the 7th fairway, having to control the gallery and create an alley for him to get back to the fairway.  He thanked us when he got back to the rope we were holding for him and his caddie as they ducked under.

My commitment for 9 holes ended quickly so I headed to the volunteer village to rest up for my primary assignment in the afternoon.  Had lunch with Tony, my co-lead for the assignment with Day, DJ, and Reed.  Talked about his relatively recent experiences running road races, having given up smoking only 3 years ago and recently completing a half-marathon.  Myself being on the far side of long-distance racing, (three Boston Marathons 20+ years ago), I gave him the benefit of my limited wisdom for setting his sights on Boston.  He has his doubts, but I'm confident he'll be able to run Boston, the difficult issue being obtaining a bib number.

Made my way to the 1st tee for our 1:40 tee-off and was met with the largest gallery of the day by far, 1,000 spectators gathered and ready to go.  Tony, Jimmy, and I were a relatively small number of marshals for this size group, but the recent down-sizing of the mobile marshals crew was in play.  Additionally, we were to find out that our committee co-chairs had made a decision to send us out with the premier golfers, rather than reserving this assignment for themselves.  It represented a definite shift in how our assignments were being issued, and also signified a tremendous level of confidence in our ability to handle the largest gallery.   Tony and Jimmy are the best marshals, knowing exactly where to position at each hole based on an ever-changing dynamic of gallery size and player position.   The gallery grew to Tiger-like proportions of over 3,000 moving en-masse tee to green, jockeying for position. Even when Jason Day hit his drive deeply into the woods to the right off the 5th fairway, a situation where there was only 1 hole marshal stationed, we were able to marshal a huge crowd of not only thousands of spectators but also photographers, tv crews, 4 Norton police officers, and even Roger Maltbie, providing running commentary for NBC. Unfortunately for Day, he subsequently hit an atrocious 2nd shot, again into the woods, where we had to repeat the same set-up so he could escape his predicament.  He kept his cool and thanked us on his way back to the fairway.  Day again hit beyond the ropes on the very next hole, but rallied for birdie, and subsequently held on to make the cut after having shot an 8 on the fifth hole. Impressive!

Jason Day hitting from beyond the cart path on 9 to get back in play

                                                                        Patrick Reed 

We had only one instance of near chaos, on the long cart-path connecting the 7th green to the 8th tee.  The players are always transported by golf cart while we try to keep the cart-path partially clear to avoid having the gallery interfere with the traffic flow.  Unfortunately, our master plan got clogged by 2 additional carts transporting beer from the 7th green concession stand, bringing several thousand spectators to a complete halt while we got it all sorted out.  Closest I ever saw Tony to losing it!
I had a brief encounter with Roger Maltbie on the 13th hole after Day seemingly hit his drive wide right again but I lost sight of it.  Maltbie was standing near me about 50 yards forward of the teebox and I asked him, "Did Day hit it outside of the ropes?" He looked at me and replied good-naturedly, "I don't know, I can't see that far!"  We both chuckled. He is a beloved character at DBC, always addressed by someone in the crowd with a hearty Boston-accented "Rogaah!!"

At 18, DJ unfortunately lost his approach shot to the green, having to backtrack to the drop area, resulting in a little extra work for us as well, but worse for him, a double bogey.  We finished up our round at 6:15pm, another long day at DBC.  Our crew was able to score some left-over Bertucci's pizza and Ben & Jerry's ice cream at the tent, where we sat with Karen and Maureen, all pretty exhausted but happy from the events of the day.  Now all plans are focused on the tropical storm due to arrive here on Monday, the forecast still developing but sounding serious.    
          

The 2016 Deutsche Bank Championship   Pro-Am   Thursday September 1, 2016

If you've been reading this far into the blog you know my drill for arriving at TPC Boston at the crack of dawn for the DBC Pro-Am. This was my eight DBC and my 11th professional tournament.   What never changes is my excitement at renewing old friendships with people I only see once a year, although I've now become Facebook friends with several as well.  I don't need coffee, breakfast, or much of anything else to arrive wide awake and psyched for another mobile marshal experience.  Of course, that quickly changes when I can dig into the Dunkin Donuts catered spread at the volunteer pavilion!
It was a rainy Thursday so we all met inside the MGA museum building rather than outside on the patio, our traditional spot.  There were only about 20 of us marshals in attendance for the meeting as a decision has been made to reduce our overall numbers.  It was great to see our committee chairs again, David and Karen, and to chat-up fellow marshals Tony, Jack, & Jim.  I was assigned to Sergio Garcia, who I'd never marshaled before,  Working with me was Steve, a newbie who was a hole marshal at 18 last year.  It was going to be a low key day due to the weather, but a great opportunity to work with Steve and give him pointers throughout the day.  As I walked to the first tee, I had that feeling that comes over me at every tournament at some point...how lucky I am to have another opportunity to be inside the ropes!  I met up with the 1st hole captain, a fellow I've established a relationship with over the years, always checking in with him to see what he needs from us walking marshals.  We both acknowledged that there would be very light galleries today, but things would definitely heat up later in the week.  When there are close to 400-500 people standing around the first tee box waiting for the big names in golf to tee off, it can get pretty difficult with so few hole marshals there.  We're frequently seen as the cavalry arriving with reinforcements.
Sergio turned out to be one of the most gracious pro's I've seen in all my years marshaling.  He was available for every autograph, posing for countless pictures, and answering questions from the four amateurs assigned to his group, including the former mayor of NYC Michael Bloomberg.  Sergio repeatedly thanked us whenever we helped him or his caddie as we escorted them through 18 holes.  The fairly thin gallery never amounted to more than a couple hundred people but were always very respectful.  We heard a few chants of "USA, USA"  in anticipation of the Ryder Cup coming up in a month, Sergio being one of the recently announced members of the European team. He took it well.  In lots of ways Sergio seems like a normal guy.  I'm always impressed when able to observe a world-famous pro acting in a way we can all identify with. Sergio answers the call of nature during a break in play, like we all do, at a discreet distance of course!
My time was productively spent giving Steve the benefit of my experience in the nuances of marshaling, including positioning at each tee and green, avoiding walking on the green or teebox surfaces, and helping out the amateurs by locating stray shots in the shrubbery or rough.  Steve was nice enough to hold his umbrella over us at times, which was much appreciated.   Thankfully the rain never affected play, avoiding a player evacuation.  I told Steve how this would work if it came to that, including noting the position of the evac vans strategically placed at every hole. We finished up after 18 holes with Sergio signing autographs for about 15 minutes, then we headed back to the volunteer pavilion for lunch.  I chatted with my buddy Tony about an hour, comparing notes about how our rounds went.  Since this was his 13th year as a mobile marshal, he has a more in-depth view of how the mobile marshals committee came into being and the process by which it is being operated.  He has made some suggestions and recommendations in recent years with the powers that be, which got us off on one of those "if I was in charge'' discussions, as to what changes we might implement.   His comments would later turn out to be quite prophetic.

US Open   Day 4    June 19, 2016   Sunday   Father's Day

Worked the system a bit today trying to get assigned as a walking marshal, as I realized I'd arrived too early yesterday and consequently got assigned at teeboxes and grandstands, rather than as a walker.  As it turned out, I had some extra time to take pictures and act as a spectator before my scheduled 11:15am assignment time.

                           Views of Oakmont, the bridge over the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and the main gate area 

Checked in with the 19th hole captain at the 12th hole pavilion, who said she would do all she could  to get me assigned to a walking group, be patient and she would come up with something.  I waited until 12:30, no problem really, having a second breakfast, watching the Fox coverage on the multiple flat screens throughout the spacious volunteer accommodations.  I was eventually told there were no walking marshal assignments, which left me feeling a bit peeved as the 19th hole captain had suggested the possibility in the first place.  To top it off, I got placed in the worst assignment of the week, at the lengthy cartpath crosswalk between the 1st green and 9th teebox, just past the turnpike walkway overpass.  Worse yet, the 9th hole captain in charge of this area was in over his head, making a fairly simple task into a much more complex operation, involving 4 gate ropes, when 2 would have simplified matters.  Every one was on edge as he implied that the USGA was particularly concerned that this crosswalk not fill-up with spectators.   Anyway, I toughed it out for 3 hours, keeping a smile on my face as I went into full marshal/ambassador mode, answering lots of questions from passing spectators, trying to help out in any way I could.  Lots of folks wanted to stop in the crosswalk and have a splendid view of both the 1st green and 9th tee, however, we had to keep traffic moving and clear the 50 yard long winding cart path.  When my assigned shift ended at 4pm, I headed over to the 18th hole to check-in with the captain, Bob Stewart, a long-time Oakmont member, to see if he needed any help as the Championship reached its conclusion.  He was very appreciative of my offer, saying he was in need of marshals along the entire length of the par 5 18th hole, and as a matter of fact, also knew there weren't enough marshals along the 17th hole either.  I told him I'd get lunch and then assist for the final 4 hours of the tournament.  I needed a break by this point and after cashing in my volunteer food voucher at the 18th fairway concession stand, found a chair near the player practice area for a well deserved sit-down.  By 5pm I was ready to go again and headed to the 17th fairway just as Jordan Spieth was playing.  I walked in with him through 18, much as a walking marshal would, marshaling the immense gallery along the way for each shot.  I was amazed how few marshals were stationed along the right side of the 18th fairway to manage a gallery that was reaching 10 people deep.  There were only 3 marshals down on the 18th green, including the hole-captain, Bob, but the two grandstands had a full compliment of marshals, which was encouraging.  

Looking down 18 toward the clubhouse 

The 18th green at Oakmont

I walked back to 17 to accompany Jim Furyk, just in time for him to sink a birdie putt, and hear the thunderous roar for the hometown favorite.  I continued up 18 with him as he finished in a tie for second place, where he received a standing ovation from his Pittsburgh faithful.  At this point, Bob asked me to remain at the 18th green for the rest of the day as half of the field had yet to finish; the huge gallery was becoming overwhelming in the congested area next to the clubhouse. It was a tremendous experience standing greenside in front of the two grandstands, cameras everywhere, the blimp hovering overhead, the excitement building for the conclusion of the Open.  It was just as thrilling as my experiences at the finishing hole at Congressional and again at Merion, only here I was at the 18th green at Oakmont for a much longer period, 2 hours.  I do remember taking note of Dustin Johnson standing quite awhile on the nearby 12th teebox, speaking somewhat intently with a USGA official, but thought nothing of it until the events of the day came to a head at the end of play.  

When there were only 5 pairings left, an unfortunate situation developed as a USGA security official materialized, herding us marshals off to one side of the green, saying we were to form a ''human wall'' so as to prevent the crowd from overwhelming the green at the conclusion of play.  He mentioned that a rope was about to be deployed which we were going to use for crowd control purposes, although this never materialized.  This action was handled poorly by this official, in a way which deeply upset several marshals who had been assigned to 18 all week.  A couple of days after the Open, I felt compelled to write an email to Mike Davis at the USGA expressing my concerns, which I will include in its entirety at the end of this blog.

Dustin Johnson after his victory

Despite this situation, I and the 20 or so marshals who had been gathered to this area just off the green made the best of the situation, witnessing DJ finally win his first major, made all the more significant in light of his near-miss last year at Chamber's Bay, as well as on several other occasions.  We had no details as to the brewing controversy related to Dustin's penalty/non-penalty at the 5th green, although rumors were being circulated in the crowd, coming from those equipped with headsets.   Nonetheless, we had a great view of the trophy award ceremony, being presented by Jack Nicklaus, in whose honor the award was renamed.  Also present were many USGA officials, Oakmont members in their formal blazers, Fox Sports host Joe Buck, and DJ's lovely wife Paulina, who was a distinct favorite of the crowd.  I stayed throughout the entire ceremony, as well as afterward to take pictures, call my wife Mary and our daughter Jill, and soak in the whole atmosphere of this terrific experience.  As Bob Stewart had told me earlier, "Oakmont is a very special place."

The awards ceremony on the 18th green

Oakmont's iconic clubhouse

Moonrise over Oakmont

(Below is the email exchange between myself and Mike Davis at the USGA.  I was extremely pleased to receive such a quick personal response from him, just 2 days after what must have been an avalanche of emails related to the Dustin Johnson ruling.) 

-----Original Message-----

From: Wyn Morton

Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2016 05:30 PM Eastern Standard Time
To: Comments@USGA.org
Cc: Mike Davis
Subject: 18th hole controversy sparked by arrogant USGA official

Dear Mike Davis,

I would like to bring to your attention an unfortunate situation which occurred at the 18th green yesterday as the final round of the US Open concluded.  I was serving as a 19th hole volunteer, assigned to the 18th green, working closely with the hole captain Robert Stewart.  At approximately 6:30pm, or when the last 5 pairings were finishing their rounds, I and all of the marshals on the green were approached by a USGA official who herded us away from our assigned positions, over to the area adjacent to the 12th tee.  Several other volunteer marshals were also clustered in this area already, off-duty, and eagerly watching the conclusion of the championship.  The USGA official, whose name I do not know, (a middle-aged man with a bristle mustache), commanded that we were all to serve as a 'human wall' to cordon off an alleyway to enable the dignitaries and media an unobstructed access to the green for the trophy ceremony.  This was happening when there was still an hour of golf to be played.  In so doing, this USGA official stripped the 18th green of every marshal except the hole captain and one other marshal. At no time did this official consult with the hole captain Mr. Stewart to explain his actions.  When this fact was pointed out to the official, he arrogantly responded that we have ''plenty of cops and security here to take care of things''. Not only do police and security not serve as marshals, but this moment was when we were needed most, as the excitement and crowd noise built at the conclusion of the tournament.  He also stated that we needed to assist the media, who had paid ''100 million for the right to broadcast the championship''.  We were all astonished and incredulous!  Every marshal attempted to politely advocate for us to return to our positions to resume marshaling, to which the official threatened to have us removed, especially since we were not issued orange 18th hole inside the ropes credentials.  We had all been inside the ropes at the 18th green all day!  The astonishing lack of respect for the dedicated services provided by the volunteers, who'd earned the right to remain at their 18th hole positions needs to be addressed by you. I respectfully request that this official be removed from his position as soon as possible. A response from you regarding this matter is also required.  This was my third US Open as a volunteer marshal; I speak for all of the volunteers in stating that we are integral to the success of the championship.  We do not deserve to be treated in the above manner.

Sincerely,

Wyn Morton 

Dear Wyn,

Thank you for your note. This is the first I've heard of this incident and I will check in with our Championship Director Charlie Howe to see if he has more information. Either I will respond or he will. I am sorry that you had a negative experience.

Most important, please know that we genuinely appreciate your time and effort this past week at the U.S. Open. Simply put, we could not do it without volunteers like you.

Kind regards,
Mike Davis

   

   

US Open   Day 3   June 18, 2016   Saturday

Arrived at Oakmont at 9:15am, checked in with Buck, 19th hole Co-captain, who didn't have any walking marshal assignments for me, so I went for breakfast which was being well catered at the East Course volunteer pavilion.  As I was sitting on the porch, I ran into Joe, the marshal I'd met at Merion, who was still at it, volunteering at his 20th-something Open with his brother, bringing his wife along this time.  Incredible!

Buck eventually assigned me to marshal at the 6th teebox, along with a very interesting gentleman named Dave who turned out to be the senior reporter for the Madison, WI CBS-TV affiliate.  He'd covered many sporting events in his career, including Olympics, Super Bowls, and US Opens.  A down to earth fellow without any pretense, very willing to talk about his experiences and his views on broadcast media, especially the Fox coverage of the Open.  I found out that my suspicions about various golf broadcasters were accurate, and that the current crew working for Fox were pretty nice guys.  I spent 4 hours at this tee, inside the ropes marshaling a fairly sparse gallery, working the orange paddles to signal so that the crowd in the greenside grandstand had some idea of the approaching ball flights.  The second round finally concluded at 2pm on Saturday so I returned to the pavilion to await my next assignment, grabbing a nice lunch from the concession stand in the process.

After 30 minutes, I was assigned to the 8th green grandstand, which turned out to be one of the best assignments of the week, primarily because of the marshals already posted there and how welcoming they were for my assistance.  The captain, Dave, nearly hugged me when I arrived, he was so appreciative to receive help in managing a busy grandstand holding about 400 people.  We now had 3 marshals to manage this spot, at virtual capacity throughout the remainder of the day, from 3pm until play was called on account of darkness at 8:45pm.  (A 12-hour shift for me total, but I'm not complaining).   Dave and I hit it off immediately and established a great system for managing this grandstand, including implementing the USGA re-entry pass system once the we were technically ''closed''.  Had countless funny interactions with the spectators trying to gain entry, all kinds of offers to allow just a few more folks to squeeze in.  The 8th hole at Oakmont was one of the most difficult holes on the course, a 265 yard par-3, on which we saw less than 5 birdies all afternoon. We witnessed lots of anguished putting attempts for par on this very difficult slick green, stimping out at 15.  Once the horn sounded signaling stoppage of play for the day, we received countless thanks and high-fives from patrons as they exited, thanking us for our volunteer service.

 

US Open  Day 2    June 17, 2016  Friday

A thunder storm overnight only added to the saturation of Oakmont, but the day dawned bright and sunny and the course began to dry out, although it would take two full days to do so.  I checked in with the 19th hole co-captain, Karen, and soon got assigned to the 10th tee, a great assignment with lots of activity and challenges.  The hole captain, Peggy, was a real ''professional'' volunteer, having done so at prior US Opens and also a Ryder Cup.  I was quickly informed that they were referring to this location as a ''four ring circus''.  The tenth tee was located right at the clubhouse where thousands were gathering behind the ropes and in the grandstands.  Additionally, it was located right beside the 12th tee, as well as the 18th green.  If that wasn't enough, we had a crosswalk to manage just feet from the front edge of the 10th tee.  (Hence 4-ring circus).  We were having to marshal situations where there were players on both teeboxes as well as on the 18th green, all playing in a split-second of sequenced choreography.  Then, when there was a relatively quiet moment, we would open the crosswalk to the couple of hundred fans waiting patiently to cross.  There were about 10 marshals involved in this area, all being expertly organized by Peggy.  She would rotate us through various positions every 30 minutes or so.  I even ended up operating the orange paddles at the tee to signal to the marshals at the landing area, which direction each players ball flight was taking.  On a par 4 hole, the marshals need to be aware of any balls landing outside the ropes, but can't see the flight of the ball itself. Thank goodness I had another marshal helping me in spotting ball flights as these old eyes lost 1 or 2 balls after they were blasted 300 yards off the tee!  I stayed at 10 for about 3 hours, until the end of the morning shift, then went back to the west volunteer pavilion for lunch and to see where else I might be needed.  I met with Karen again, who was trying really hard to have me assigned as a walking marshal, if not today, then probably tomorrow.  Very nice lady, even took my cell number to call me once the pairings for Saturday became available later on. I ended up going over to the 6th green grandstand, on the East course, a very long walk from the 12th hole volunteer pavilion, but I was learning my way around, using shortcuts and avoiding the most heavily used paths which had become quagmires after the rains.  The USGA and Oakmont staff are to be commended for how well they managed these saturated areas, laying down tons of wood chips, rather than the straw which had been used at Congressional and Merion. Worked well and didn't end up smelling like a barnyard!

I spent the next two hours having a very pleasant time on the grandstand at the par three 6th hole, chatting with a fellow marshal who was volunteering at her 10th US Open!  Originally from the Netherlands, she and her husband make an annual vacation of volunteering every year, choosing a different assignment each time, so this was her first time marshaling.  I had a few tips for her and she did quite well, managing this grandstand of about 200 seats.  It became fairly crowded but we never had to close it, which meant we had a constant flow of fans entering and exiting.  All very friendly and having a wonderful afternoon in the beautiful western Pennsylvania weather, especially after yesterday's debacle.  We were still getting caught up with Thursday's first day of play, which finally ended around 3pm on Friday.  After my shift ended, I spent some $ at the 50,000 sq ft merchandise tent, unbelievably huge, I can't imagine having to spend 4 days helping customers decide which hat to pick from the 100 or so on display!   

US Open   June 2016     Oakmont Country Club     Oakmont, PA

Just a few comments leading up to the fantastic 116th US Open at Oakmont.  Like all volunteers, I'd anxiously opened my acceptance letter a year ago, informing me of my assignment at the Open.  When I applied in early 2015, I'd indicated my preferences were as either a hole marshal or grandstand marshal.  I was chagrined to read that I'd been assigned to the merchandise tent!  The letter indicated that every effort had been made to assign all volunteers to one of their preferences, but that unfortunately, no changes could be made.  I thought, what have I got to lose by calling the phone number listed for Oakmont.   I spoke with a very polite receptionist who patiently listened to my concern that the Open was not utilizing experienced volunteers effectively.  She transferred me to the USGA official who is onsite for the entire year leading up to the Championship.  I explained my reason for calling, including citing a few examples of the lack of marshals with experience I'd encountered at Congressional and Merion.  He agreed that the grandstand at Merion's 17th hole turned out to be a circus.  I was astonished when he asked if I wanted to be a marshal instead of working the merchandise tent.  As we spoke further, he told me of a new committee, (the ''19th hole'' committee) which had been developed by the USGA to serve as a sort of marshal's bullpen, to fill-in the gaps throughout the course where additional help was needed.  Since I had prior experience in every kind of marshaling, he thought I'd be perfect for the assignment.  I jumped at the chance.  I commend the USGA for responding to the feedback it must have received following the previous Opens and developing the 19th hole concept.  (It needs a better name, however)!

Since I live on Cape Cod, I was facing an 11-hour ride to Pittsburgh, which I was tackling on my own, as my buddy Jim, who'd been with me at Congressional and Merion, was recovering from major surgery.  I'm so thankful to my wonderful sister Meredith and her husband Tony for putting me up in Connecticut overnight to break-up the trip.  I also want to mention a terrific 1-hour lunch stop in Easton, PA to get together with an old fraternity brother, Rory Morgan, who I hadn't seen in over 30 years.  What a great time we had getting reacquainted.


US Open    Day 1    Oakmont   June 15, 2016

I arrived at Oakmont at 9:30 am and was immediately struck by the look of the place...there was hardly a tree in sight.  You could see the grand old Tudor style clubhouse clearly on the other side of the course; it looked a mile away.  I was also struck by how hilly the course appeared, perched on an old cornfield from which was carved this magnificent golf course in 1903. Then there was the Pennsylvania Turnpike, running right through the middle of the course, but hidden as it ran through a deep walled canyon.  I would later meet an Oakmont member who commented on how much the course had been changed over the last 30 years, with thousands of trees removed.  At first he was against that change, but now feels like Oakmont is a fantastic work of art.  That was my initial impression as well.

The forecast was not good for this first day of competition, intermittent thunder storms predicted throughout the day. I'd been on the property for less than a half hour when the hazardous weather warning was posted on the scoreboard, the suspension of play horn sounded, and the first clap of thunder arrived.  I staked out a perfect spot on the covered porch of the volunteer pavilion and waited out this first of what would be three weather delays throughout the day.  As always happens, every volunteer out on the course made a dash for the nearest cover, as we are directed to do by the USGA.  The pavilion quickly became standing room only, and the seats at my table were immediately taken by my two new best friends, a nice Southern gentleman to my right, and a fellow from Genoa, Italy to my left.  We all got to know each other pretty well as we waited out this 80 minute weather delay.  Its sort of amazing how quickly a friendship between complete strangers can develop at these events.  All volunteers instantly have at least one thing in common, their absolute love of golf, which compels them to give their time and effort to enable this huge production called a US Open to succeed.
After the rain let-up I made my way across the pedestrian footbridge to the 12th hole volunteer pavilion to check-in.  The Oakmont layout is so huge that two volunteer pavilions were created, one each for the east and west course areas.  I met the 19th hole co-captain, Buck, who asked me if I'd be willing to serve as a walking marshal at some point in the tournament.  I told him that was my primary assignment at DBC for the past several years and I'd be glad to.  He explained that the USGA used only 2-man walking crews assigned to the top 4 "vanity pairings", which is far fewer than is utilized at Deutsche Bank.  Evidently their rationale is that there are already enough marshals at every hole, so that only a few extra walking marshals are required.  Unfortunately, he had no such assignment for me at that time. We soon had the 2nd rain delay of the day so I waited in the pavilion with hundreds of other volunteers for this to pass until I was finally assigned to the player practice area at 2:30 pm.  So I headed to the practice area, immediately adjacent to the clubhouse, where the captain greeted me with thanks for the extra help.  My job there was to wait for the arrival of each pro and caddie and place the appropriate name tag on the small placard beside the spot which they select to practice from.  The tricky part can be when a relatively unknown player arrives on the scene and no one knows their name in order to select the correct name card.  We sometimes had to quietly ask the caddie, "who is that?" This generally happened when one of the amateurs or foreign players arrived on the scene, but the caddies always took it well.  We also had to pick up any left over golf balls and tees when they moved on to the chipping or putting areas.  A great moment occurred while I was there when eight Pittsburgh Penguin players walked onto the practice area to rub elbows with the golf pros.  They got a standing ovation from the fans in the grandstand, as well as drawing a small crowd of players, Keegan Bradley being one who posed for a selfie with them. After about 2 hours,  the third suspension of play occurred, players, caddies, and assorted USGA personnel making a dash to the nearby clubhouse.  I followed along, seeking the nearest protective shelter according to USGA protocol, ending up inside the clubhouse locker room area.  A few security officials took note of my 19th hole credential which evidently allowed access.  I spent the next hour waiting out the pouring rain while seated on a locker room bench amongst the players, caddies, PGA dignitaries, wags,  Fox media personalities including Joe Buck, Brad Faxon, Paul Azinger, and various USGA officials.  It was great getting an earful of various player interchanges regarding the hellacious weather we'd been experiencing all day.  Around 5pm the rain let up and the sun came out, so I turned to a USGA official to ask if play would be resumed.  He said there would be no more golf until tomorrow as the course was basically flooded.  We would be playing catch up well into Sunday for these day long weather delays.

     

Day 4  September 7, 2015  Monday-Labor Day  DBC

Got assigned to the first group of the day, Rory McIlroy and Brendon Todd, teeing off soon at 8:35am, so I hustled our 3-person crew off to breakfast, Tom, Melinda, and myself.  Later at the first tee I spoke with the hole captain who really appreciated our help every day in adding to the few hole marshals he had at his disposal.  Since Tom and Melinda were veteran marshals, I only had to tell them of my game plan to keep the crowds under control and in place until both golfers had taken their shots.  Everyone in our gallery would be there to see Rory, and would bolt before Todd had also played his shot.  I really wanted to avoid this if possible, meaning we'd have to pay special attention to people holding their positions at the ropes and on the cart paths.

The morning started out very comfortably, with a gallery of a hundred people or so, growing to at least 500 later on.  McIlroy played superb golf, going -5 for the day but not enough to catch the leaders.  He'd recently lost his ranking as the world's #1, and wanted to prove a few things for the remainder of the FedEx Cup series to come.  Our round was made even more interesting when Melinda noticed Rory's girlfriend Erica Stoll walking along with us, so we made sure she wasn't bothered by fans as the day went on.  I got to sit next to Rory in the golf carts for the ride from the 7th green to the 8th tee, a real treat. On the 17th fairway we ran into Notah Begay, doing on-course commentary for the Golf Channel and NBC broadcast.  Since it was still morning, I asked if he was already 'live', he kidded me saying they moved up their broadcast time and why wasn't I paying attention. I said I haven't been watching any golf on tv, I've been too busy watching in person.

Our round went blazing fast, we were done in just under 4 hours.  Tom and I broke for lunch and I tried to convince him to stay for the rest of the day to experience the closing moments of play, which are always fantastic.  Tom's back was barking at him so he had to leave, but said he'd sign-up again next year.  I got comfortable at the volunteer tent, knowing that I'd be needed later in the day for added marshaling support.  I monitored the marshals headset channel, listening to how it was going with the leaders Rickie Fowler and Henrik Stenson out on the course.  Around 2pm I got word that the 9th hole captain was requesting some help, which is right next to the volunteer village.  Steve, the captain was ecstatic when I approached him, saying he had no marshals on the green.  I positioned myself there as the final 5 pairings came through, then offered to help David,  Karen, and Maureen with the final group as they went through to the back 9.  All three of them looked fatigued and they welcomed some relief coming "off the bench".   They were working an enormous gallery, what we've come to call a "Tiger" gallery in the past, but this time for Fowler and Stenson.  It was barely manageable through holes 10 and 11 until something happened, which none of us had ever witnessed in years of marshaling.  On the 12th fairway the gallery ducked under the ropes as we walked behind the golfers, over a thousand spectators crossing to the opposite side to position themselves at the 13th hole.  We did our best to herd this crowd across and then outside the ropes, all the while saying how unbelievable it all was.  The excitement in the crowd continued to build as the golfers made their way to the 16th par-3 signature hole. Stenson proceeded to hit into the water hazard fronting the green, instantly relinquishing the lead to Fowler.  The atmosphere in the gallery went nuclear.  Now all Rickie had to do was hold on through 17 and 18 to win.  We all instantly went to red-alert in anticipation of a playoff, which would present huge logistical difficulties in keeping the crowd under control.  As I was standing alongside the 18th fairway, waiting for the players to hit their approach shots to the green, I glanced back just in time to see about 100 fans again ducking under the ropes to get out onto the fairway.  They were initially unmoved when I confronted them,

so I radioed Maureen, who had an "OMG" moment.  With the help of Rick and Jim who rushed to my assistance, we were able to convince these folks that we needed the fairway cleared in case the players had to come back to replay 18 if we had a playoff.  David radioed all of us stationed along the 18th to maintain our positions and not come down to the green until we were certain that a playoff wasn't needed.  He referred to seeing my green shoes, visible from over 200 yards away where he was standing.  I replied that now he was actually happy I'd worn something so visible under the circumstances.  The crowd noise was deafening when Rickie held on to win the DBC; he played terrific golf and deserved to win.  We all gathered beside the 18th green for the trophy award ceremony, then said our goodbyes, all of us exhausted after a very long but very rewarding golf experience.   I'd walked a total of 90 holes in four days of volunteering and had a wonderful time doing so.  See you next year.