Inside the Ropes at the US Open (wrap up)

By Joan Shafer

In real life, Joan Shafer is a global business consultant with a tremendous love of golf. This week she's a volunteer Marshall at the US Open on Hole #5. What follows are her observations from "inside the ropes."

(Editor's note: Each new addition to Joan's report is added to the end of this story, so that new readers can follow it in order, as it happened. Use the links to jump to the parts you haven't seen yet.)

Go to Day 3

The Wrap Up

Day 2:

We did not see Tiger today since our shift started in the afternoon and we decided to miss his morning practice.

So, some highlights of today:

1. We had a massive breakfast at a local diner and got to talking to the guy in the booth next to ours. He is one of the Rules Officials and has presided at all sorts of tournaments including college and seniors events. This guy is a judge by profession and will be working his 13th US Open this week. We peppered him with questions which triggered his telling us things he had witnessed such as: 1) following Sergio here in 2002 when he would grip and re-grip and re-grip and re-grip his club before taking every shot and the NY crowd deciding to count for him "ONE! TWO!! THREE!! . . . etc. " Then when he would fluff the shot, they would yell "ALL THAT? FOR THAT??!!." 2) Another Sergio story when he was clearly not going to make the cut at Winged Foot and asked the Rules Official if there would be a penalty if he threw his club. The official replied that if he threw it like a man over the fence and far into the woods, then maybe. Otherwise if he threw it to the ground, then not. Sergio told him that the woods option sounded good to him and the official said "Wait - let me have it and I'll auction it for charity". Sergio went to his bag, pulled out his driver, signed it, and handed it to him. The official got $1000 for the First Tee Foundation as the result. 3) Ask me to tell you the Jack Nicklaus story whenever I see you. Too long to write. Suffice it to say that the judge had me (and himself) in complete tears after telling it.

2. The NY gallery. I have been to about 20 big golf tournaments in my life in Scotland, Australia and across the USA. I have NEVER ever seen or heard anything like the people who come out here. They hold back no punches or thoughts. They just yell across the fairways and greens what they want to the players, caddies, or anyone else in their entourage. Like at our hole yesterday, Todd Hamilton hit his second shot to the elevated green and it landed short. One of the guys on the sidelines called out "What club did you just hit Todd?" Hamilton voiced back "A 7 iron." The guy cried "That is NOT enough club on this hole!!" At which point Hamilton pulled a 3 iron out of his bag, dropped another ball and struck it to within 8 feet of the flag. The crowd went WILD in applause. Upon reaching the green, Hamilton picked up the first ball, signed it and walked over to the ropes and gave it to the guy who advised him. Nice. The spectators all have strong NY accents. They all wear long khaki shorts, faded golf shirts, golf hats, and hold beers in their left hands and cigars in their right. If you ask them who they want to win this week, they get all soft and genuine and say "Phil . . . especially for what he is going through." If a player is a jerk and does something dumb, they show no mercy.

3. Speaking of Phil. Our hold captain told us that Phil flew home to CA on Sunday night after the St. Jude tournament to be with Amy and will be flying in here tomorrow night. So no practice this week. The marshals at each hole are going to be wearing some sort of pink something in support of him and Amy such as wrist bands, ribbons, or pins on our hats.

4. As Angel Cabrera was walking off the green, he looked up directly into my eyes and gave me the friendliest "Hi!" a girl could get. I was completely star struck for several hours after that.

5. In the merchandise tent, Rocco Mediate was at a table signing his new book co-written by John Feinstein titled "You've Got to be Kidding Me" about last year's US Open match between him and Tiger. I handed him my copy and said that it was for a prostate cancer charity auction in August. Boy - he is another one that looks you dead in the eyes when connecting with you and so could not have been more thoughtful in the words he finally and briefly inked down. These guys are good.

I realized today that golf is like the movies. A topic that universally yields animated conversation with a stranger. It is the best leveler in that one could talk to another for hours out here about this subject and never get into "What do you do for a living" and all those other questions that lead to hierarchical judgments about the other.  Everyone to a person is excited in this event whether the girl scout gals at the concession booth who are donating their time free in exchange for a percentage of the take from the food company as a gift; the volunteer grounds teams 10-strong each who started work at 3 am this morning under lights and came out in full force at the end of the round today to pick up every divot off the fairway, put sand it its place and repair each ball mark.  It seems like everyone wants to talk to everyone and so we are.   Whether it is commenting on the player, the weather, exchanging information, or teasing a stranger uncompromisingly because you know they are from New York and will give it back to you better than you could deliver it.

Day 3:

"Yesterday we were not scheduled to work a shift, so went out to the course to spend the morning in the grandstand at 17 where you can see 4 other holes in play. It was then that Phil played his only practice round of the week and it was more than moving to see and hear the fan support along the way. He is New York's love child.

Before leaving at noon to play 18 ourselves, I spent the smartest $29 of the past 10 years. I bought a golf umbrella knowing that the forecast was for big rain today. No wonder golfers carry umbrellas in the USA. When I lived in Scotland, an umbrella was worthless because rain is not only horizontal, but it becomes a wind sail which pulled you uncontrollably down any path you were walking resulting in joint displacement.

Today marked the first day of official play, so easy banter between the players and gallery was now gone, the relaxed amble of the golfers replaced by focused pacing, and high stakes felt behind every shot. We left our hotel at 6:15 am in all our rain gear in a downpour to get to the course and hike out to our hole. Our hole director is an 'on it' gal named Kathy who gave us a whole series of directives about crowd control, crosswalk management and fore-caddying. Huddled under our umbrellas in the non-stop rain, the question was whether play was really going to start. Word came back "yes" - the first groups had just teed off at 7: 04 am at 1 and 10. We knew that Tiger was teeing off at 8:06 am with Angel Cabrera and Padraig Harrington. I was sent down the right side of the fairway to be the first of 3 fore caddies and it wasn't long before the first group reached our hole (the 5th). It instantly became clear that today was going to be different from the practice rounds with the rain shortening their drives by 10-40 yards and their nerves affecting their swing and thus ball flight so that they were landing in the front bunkers that they had consistently cleared the 3 days before. The first 4 groups came through composed of mostly unknown players. The marshals were then moved up one place so I was now the middle fore caddy. Vijay Singh, KJ Choi and Jeev Singh teed off and for the first time all week, a ball landed in the high grass on the right side of the bunkers which I saw land near to me and marked with a flag. It is a daunting position to be in since you can't see the ball come off the tee and you need to trust the 2 marshals standing behind the golfer on the tee who raise yellow paddles indicating which direction the ball is coming down the fairway. If you see the yellow boards being waved toward your side, you start madly looking at the sky for incoming with ears on high alert for the sound of the ball thud ding.

Then the tsunami of spectators appeared over the hill making their way down both sides of the fairway to be in position for Tiger and his group's drives off the tee. We could barely see them in the distance walking up to it with caddies, umbrellas, scorers, etc. First ball from the group landed in the fairway not too far along. Then wait. Next player hit the ball and the tee marshals are wildly waving their paddles toward us. We hear a thwack of a ball shooting back off a tree trunk in front of us back into the high grass. I saw it land and trooped hurriedly over to mark it with my flag. I looked down at it and saw the Nike swoosh logo. It was then my heart started thudding like mad and I realized whose ball it was. The third shot was hit over into the short left rough. A mass of media inside the ropes came down my way as I stood protective of that little area. Stevie then appeared with Tiger's bag and I pointed to the flag. Dave, the fore caddy behind me explained to Stevie that the ball had hit the tree in front and thus why it may be scuffed. We reverently stood back a few paces and watched Tiger approach. I realized later that I was breathless. He was not bent out of shape or upset. Came over, looked down at the ball and the lie, went over to his bag and pulled out a wedge, took a moment to look where the other players were, looked down the fairway, took a focused practice swing, and then punched it out down the middle. Walked on and waited for the others. I just have to say . . . it was special. A moment I will never forget. He is as perfect in real life as he is in pictures and on TV. Dave and I smiled at each other after they all left just feeling that warmth of luck. Tiger went on to double bogey the hole, one of the hardest on the front 9, and then birdied the 6th in ever heavier rain. Play was suspended for the rest of the day not long after that.

We are not working tomorrow, but unanimously agreed to meet at 6:30 am to get to the course to follow Tiger for the rest of his round. We want to watch the best player in the world in action at the US Open. Realizing that history is in the making and that no one comes close to his play, we want to see and appreciate as much of him and his game as we can.

A FEW SIDE NOTES FROM TODAY:

1. It was pouring (!) all day. The greens became big ponds. The fairways like 1000 small lakes. You could not walk on the grass paths which had become 6 inch mud obstacle courses that Marine training camps only dream of. Parking lots were closed after the cars emptied out because of all the mud damage. The massive rains of today had been predicted since last weekend. Yet - we saw guys in their late teens and early 20's both on the course and in the gallery wearing only a golf shirt and shorts. No umbrella, rain hat, waterproofs, etc. A lot of outraged mothers are on the corrective action warpath tonight.

2. Tickets were $40 for each practice day and are $100 for each tournament day. 42,000 tickets per day max and they are pretty much sold out. The people who comprised the gallery today were golfers. No one else would have been mad enough to come out in this weather. So crowd control was not needed. We know this game and its etiquette. We play in this weather. Even though it was so wet that play was suspended, we all loved being out there in it.

Can't wait for tomorrow . . . "

The Wrap Up

It is all over now and I imagine you know that Lucas Glover won the US Open yesterday afternoon. A deserving win after a most exciting final hour where any of 5 golfers could have taken it. When Phil eagled #13, you could hear the roar in Philadelphia. Loudest and most excited response of the week. It was just not in the stars for him to win this one. However, I think he had to leave feeling deeply loved and supported by the 1000's and 1000's and 1000's of people who cheered his every step over 6 days.

I learned some things this week.

1. All you have to do to get a successful outcome from a group of people whom you don't know and want their best is just ask them to just use their common sense as the guideline. There were 1000's (not 100's but 1000's) of volunteers who ran this tournament including hole marshals, grandstand marshals, ground crews, transportation drivers, parking lot directors, concession stand servers, cleaners, information guides, ticket takers, security screeners, ticket sellers, merchandise vendors, etc. etc. etc. etc. These are people who love golf, want to be helpful, and be in the thick of action. It all worked like a charm. The amount of responsibility given to these groups is impressive and other institutions could learn a wonderful lesson from this. We don't need controls, manuals, trainings, and micromanagers to make big things work. Just have faith in the people who are already there. There were some 45,000 people on this golf course every day and it flowed beautifully.

2. Give your people all the benefits that make sense and they will deliver in spades. As volunteers, we could attend every day even if we weren't working. For each shift we worked, we were given a voucher good for a sandwich, piece of fruit, bag of chips, and drink of our choice. There were tents set up especially for the volunteers with tables and chairs, breakfast take-away items, snacks, TV's on the wall, and course guides for the taking. In the back of each tent were 3-4 massage chairs and professional masseuses who gave free 5-15 minute sessions for any volunteer who wanted one. We got free parking in a special lot too. That is a lot of giving in my book.

3. I discovered that I could have another career as a fore caddy since I seem to have a talent for spotting incoming balls off the tee that land in the rough. Probably developed as a result of all the hours I have been in there looking for my own ball.

4. American Express knows smart marketing. At the main gate, they had a booth where they gave away little ear pieces for anyone who had an AmEx card. These were little radios that broadcast the tournament via satellite radio (XM and Sirius), so that wherever you were on the course, you heard what was going on elsewhere. Easily 30% of the people had them on and collectively would get excited when hearing that Tiger had birdied a hole or something similar. Everyone wanted one.

5. Golfers are universally great people. Whether they are professional or amateur, from New York or New Mexico, they are ready to talk to you, open to sharing information, wanting to play.

6. It was Father's Day on Sunday and I missed my Dad . . . . He died 8 years ago a few weeks after he and I spent the weekend watching the US Open together with Retief Goosen winning. He was the golfer in our family who inspired his children to learn. He was a life long volunteer at the Greater Hartford Open (in all its various names) since the early 1960's and got a special award in his later years for all that he contributed. He would have been watching it on TV if he were still alive. I think he was watching it from above with an even greater perspective. Part of what makes this sport so heavenly . . .

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