Category: Golf

Matthieu Pavon came from behind to win the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open (FIO) on January 27 and become the first Frenchman since World War II to win on the PGA Tour.

As the photo above shows, Pavon was three strokes behind when he teed off at the 3rd hole (where I was once again hole captain). After hitting an incredible shot to the 18th green from the deep rough, he sank an eight-foot putt for a birdie, a three-under-par round of 69, and a one-stroke win over Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard. It was his only birdie on the the back nine.

Pavon and Hojgaard are not what you would call “household names” in golf. They were among several golfers new to the tournament this year, replacing several more well-known golfers who didn’t play the tournament this year.

(I’m going to throw in some photos, not so much related to the text, but to offer some visuals.)

I found it particularly striking that, during the final two rounds, the leading three groups of nine players contained only three American golfers and the final group was all Europeans.

Professional golf, as are several other sports, is changing dramatically and the Farmers this year reflected that change. The changes, I fear, may significantly lessen the tournament’s attractiveness to players and fans and perhaps even threaten its future.

The tournament was first dealt a blow in 2022 when it had to shift from the Thursday-Sunday schedule that every other PGA tournament followed to a Wednesday-Saturday schedule. The reason? Oddly, perhaps, the National Football League.

Before 2022, the Farmers was played on a fortuitous weekend for attention and television viewership. It was played on the weekend between the NFL conference championships and the Super Bowl with no football competition. (Don’t know if true, but I had been told when I started volunteering that the Farmers was the most-watched PGA tournament outside of the majors.)

Then the NFL added a 17th regular season game, pushing the conference championships to the weekend normally open to the FIO. CBS televised the Farmers, but also one of the Sunday NFL games. The Farmers had to lose its Sunday final round.

Then, this year, with competition from the LIV golf tour that attracted several major PGA players, the PGA agreed to designate several tournaments as “signature” events, with much larger purses and no cuts after the first two rounds. Fewer players qualified for such tournaments and they were the top-rated players.

This year, the Farmers had only 20 of the top 50 players in world rankings and only three of the top 10 — Xander Schauffle (who’s a local), Patrick Cantlay, and Max Homa. It wasn’t a “bad field.” It included nine winners of majors.

The total purse available at this year’s Farmers was $9 million, with Pavon receiving $1.62 million for winning. The AT&T  Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which took place the following week, had a total purse of $20 million, with the winner walking away with $3.6 million.

Also, Farmers Insurance has announced they will end their sponsorship of the tournament in 2026. The tournament has been organized by the Century Club of San Diego, a charitable organization formed in 1961 to broaden the appeal of the annual golf tournament that provides monies for local charities. Since the late ’60s, when it was known as the Andy Williams San Diego Open, it has also been sponsored by Isuzo Motors, Shearson Lehman Brothers, and, for 16 years, by Buick.

I enjoyed working with my crew of marshals, most of them returning from previous years. And it was fun to work with a couple of new folks. We took a group shot of most of the crew, as well as a couple of folks from Competition Support assigned to our hole.

 

As usual, the tournament was my most concentrated period of exercise. I was there five days (the pro-am was Tuesday) and walked a total of 45,639 steps (about 20 miles), climbing 53 “flights.” The number of steps was estimated to be about the same as 11.8 crossings of the Golden Gate Bridge and 8.1 laps around the Daytona International Speedway. Slept well.

Back to Torrey Pines in late January for for what I think was the 11th consecutive year as a volunteer at the Farmers Insurance Open (still checking on 2015). Third straight year as hole captain of 3 South.

Former Cal golfer Max Homa won the tournament, coming from five strokes behind. Sam Ryder shared the first round lead and was sole leader after rounds two and three. Four holes from the finish, Ryder shot a double-bogey on the 15th. He finished with a 75, tied for fourth, four shots behind Homa.

Homa shot a six-under 66 in the final round to beat Keegan Bradley. Third was Collin Morikawa, another former Cal golfer. Homa took home $1,566,000 and two trophies, one with a representation of a Torrey Pine, the rare and endangered species that grows only in coastal San Diego County, and the other a . . . what else? . . . surfboard.

This year’s tournament was the second in a row to end on the last Saturday of January. The schedule had been changed from the usual Sunday finale so as not to conflict with the NFL conference championships, one of which was also broadcast by CBS.

This year, the pro-am returned after a one-year absence (COVID), which brought my crew of “gallery managers” to the course Tuesday-Saturday. It seemed a bit odd at the pro-am, because the public was not allowed on the course and we had no “galleries” to “manage.” Though it started early (first group off the 1st tee at 7 am), there were only 14 groups on each of the two courses (North and South), and we were finished before 11 am. (Until 2022, we were termed “marshals,” which may have been considered too “martial.” Now we are more anodyne managers.)

It was brisk all of the mornings on the course and not “warm” except for Thursday afternoon when it reached the high 60s. It was usually in the high 30s/low 40s when I left home in the morning. Thursday also featured blustery Santa Ana winds throughout the day, sometimes gusting to 30+ mph. Saturday never reached 60 degrees.

I remember past tournaments sometimes featuring a cold day or two, a rainy or even stormy day or two, but this year was steadily less warm than usual. I wore five or six layers on my torso each day, removing my outer official Farmers Insurance Open jacket only during Thursday afternoon. That was the only time my tournament shirt was ever visible.

The big fashion change this year was my hat. The tournament wants hole captains to be distinctive in dress so that officials can locate them at each hole. Whereas gallery managers and other are to wear khaki pants, hole captains wear black pants. Gallery managers wear the issued ball caps and until this year hole captains had worn a wide-brim straw hat with a black hatband. This year, hole captains were issued “hodaddy” hats, apparently to convey better the San Diego surfing culture. Reaction among hole captains was very mixed. Most recognized that the wider brim was better for sun protection, but the style was iffy for many. Here’s a comparison.

The hodaddy hats were not off-the-shelf products. The tournament logo could have been added to any hat, but these hats featured on the liner under the brim a color drawing of hole #4S, the hole that obviously follows #3S. Distinctive.

TV announcers for the tournament frequently talk about the beautiful setting at Torrey Pines. There are many wonderful scenes. Here are a couple of aerial views, provided by the CBS drone and Goodyear blimp.

One of the advantages of #3S (for managers) is that fans only have access to the right side of the fairway and green and are quite a distance from the green compared to most other holes.

It does sometimes get busy in terms of players, people, etc., especially with several tees and greens close by. The view below shows the close proximity of the 2nd green, 3rd tee (of which there are five, but only two were used in the tournament), 4th tee, and 5th green. Fans following a group on the 3rd tee are often puzzled when they are signaled to be quiet when those players are not teeing off . . . but those on 6 are.

It also can get interesting when the golfers leave the 5th green and cross the 3rd fairway to reach 6th tee. They choose several different routes.

People-watching is another of the pleasures of this volunteer experience. Here were two special sights.

All but two of the members of the 3S crew had worked the hole during my tenure as hole captain. Robin Silva was a welcome addition, as was Andy Nocon, who joined us on Friday and Saturday, moving over from the North Course. Both were as focused, responsible, and fun as veterans Frank Barone, Patti O’Neill, Rick Taylor, Steve Dillard, and Dawn Norman. Steve and Dawn also joined us for the final two rounds from the South.

Two years ago, I believe it was the PGA that chose new titles for the previous marshals and reconfigured the organization of volunteers on each hole. Technology has become increasingly important in providing information to broadcasters. Volunteers with tablets mark on the representation of the hole on their screen the position of each ball after each shot. And that is linked to “the truck,” the central brain of the telecast. That’s how announcers can tell you a golfer has a 238-yard shot or a 16-foot putt.

While the techies had been on the sidelines of each hole in the past, they had been designated two years ago as the “competition support” group and included “tee spotters,” who from the tee indicate with paddles the path of each tee shot, and “ball spotters,” who locate balls hit off the fairway into the rough. These latter tasks had been the responsibility of marshals, under the direction of the hole captain, and tee spotting had been shared among marshals, many of whom enjoyed the task. They are completely separate now, under completely different chains of command.

That differentiation or roles and personnel has still not been smoothly integrated across the board. On as short a hole as #3S, both groups are in close proximity and we’ve been able to work together collegially. Our tee spotter was distinctive. Liam O’Callaghan is 16 years old and a member of his high school golf team. He called in sick to school Wednesday-Friday, but improved greatly on Saturday.

Here’s a photo of the entire team — Gallery Management and Competition Support — at #3S. I don’t know full names of the other CS folk, but will seek to find them out and will update.

Now, I have to take the new clubs I bought last summer and get out on the links. I’m sure new clubs will transform my game!

Ode to 2022
I was seriously remiss in not posting about the 2022 tournament. No real explanation for it. Let me just post a photo of last year’s excellent crew, several of whom returned this year.

Dorothy Parker, one of the great wits and writers of the mid-20th century, is quoted as saying that, while she hated writing, “I loved having written.”

Regarding my time as a hole captain at the US Open Golf Championship June 14-20 at Torrey Pines, I can say, “I loved having been hole captain.”

Let me cut to the quick, though, before I tell you why and share other info about the Open.

On Friday afternoon, June 18, during the second round of the tournament, I received a text from one of the marshals with whom I had worked earlier saying I was “very photogenic.” Thanks, but what brought that up? Shortly thereafter, got a text from classmate and old friend Kevin O’Malley about my “amazing cameo.” I didn’t know to what they referred until I got home that evening and looked at the telecast. This was it.

I was assisting the two marshals assigned to the green when popular players were at the hole. Crowds just made it more difficult, especially when tee shots went awry. Thus I was there when Phil Mickelson teed off. This screen shot from the telecast shows just how offline his tee shot was.

When shots such as this happen, marshals move to locate and protect the ball from fans, requesting them to provide space around it. When the player and caddy arrive, they may ask marshals to remove crowd control ropes and poles. Television, I knew, was likely showing Mickelson in his predicament, following him as he considered how to play his next shot. At one point, the director switched cameras to one behind the hole, putting me briefly within camera view.

Some people said I looked “angry.” I prefer the description offered by classmate and friend Ed Hattauer, who said I had a look of “fierce concentration.” I think I was just tired.

For several years, I had volunteered as a marshal and hole captain at the Farmers Insurance Open held at Torrey Pines each January. An added benefit to doing so, I thought, was that it might give me an advantage in being selected as a volunteer for the US Open. Maybe it did, but the coronavirus pandemic likely had much more of an effect in tamping down the number of potential volunteers from around the country.

In any case, I was invited to be a volunteer and then later invited to be a hole captain. Allowing the public to view the tournament, however, remained an open question for a long time. The Farmers tournament took place last January, but without fans. I was told that it was not until about three months before the US Open was to begin that a limited number of fans became possible.

Volunteers had been told that all would have to provide either proof of full vaccination or a negative test within 72 hours of the beginnings of their shifts. Shortly before the tournament began, the United States Golf Association (USGA), sponsor of the US Open, announced that a maximum of 10,000 fans could attend Thursday-Sunday. They also said everyone attending the tournament, including fans, had to show proof either of full vaccination or a negative test. The nearby University of California San Diego (UCSD) medical staff operated testing facilities adjacent to the tournament entrance.

We were required to wear masks at all times the first day. On Tuesday, June 15, a previously announced state-issued relaxation of COVID-related restrictions went into effect. We were then advised to wear masks when we were close to large groups of people, particularly standing close, facing them. 

So, to the tournament.

I was assigned as hole captain for #11 on Torrey Pines, South Course. Compared to the North Course, the South is considered of greater “championship” quality. During the Farmers tournament, players play on alternate courses in the first two rounds, with the final two rounds played on the South.

Ironically, in each of my first two years as a volunteer at the Farmers, I worked on 11 North on Thursday/Friday and on 11 South on the weekend. So my assignment on 11 South for the US Open was something of a bookend moment.

11 South is a long par 3. For the practice rounds Monday-Wednesday, the tee was set back as far as it could go, creating a 225-yard hole. The first golfer on Monday morning, practicing as a single, with only his caddy along, stood at the tee and gazed out at the hole. Sighing, he said, “It’s so far.”

Later that morning, a larger group came to the tee. It included Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, and teen protege Akshay Bhatia. Mickelson hit his tee shot beyond the pin, which was located on the front lower level of the green. The ball started to roll back toward the pin and was looking really good. “Oh no!,” said Mickelson. “Don’t be a 1. Not now!” The ball slid quite close by the pin, but ended up several feet past it.

No fans were on the course during the first two practice days. I was at the course, along with three marshals assigned on those days. I still don’t understand why we were there. The issue, in terms of marshals, at 11S is the crosswalk, shown in the view from the green (above). With no fans, the only traffic on the crosswalk was carts. On those first days, lots of “stuff” was being transported by electric and gas carts. I had a marshal at each end of the crosswalk to place and remove a rope barrier when carts sought to cross, depending on whether players were on the tee or walking toward the hole.

Golfers practice on Monday/Tuesday at the Farmers, too, with no marshals and somehow that works. Most of the cart drivers have worked at previous tournaments and know to look at the tee before using the crosswalk. With a marshal at the tee and green, in addition to the two at the crosswalk, that used up the four assigned. It meant there was no one to relieve a marshal for a bathroom break or lunch.

I had been surprised to learn a few days before the tournament that there were 29 marshals assigned to 11S. That was far more than I expected. At the Farmers, when I had been hole captain at the 615-yard par 5, I never had more than 20. Whereas marshals at the Farmers received day-long assignments, however, the USGA had two shifts — morning (7-noon) and afternoon (noon-8 pm). (The 8 pm was in case there was a delay.) I dealt, therefore, with two groups of marshals each day, which added to the complexity.

To help in planning marshal assignments, I downloaded an app. Well, I brought a tablet, a small pad of paper, and a writing instrument, a pen. Drawing a sophisticated representation of the space, I would indicate placement of personnel on each shift. Here’s an example from one of the shifts during the tournament itself.

Wednesday didn’t feature a pro-am, as the Farmers and most other tournaments do, but the course was open to active duty members of the military and veterans, and their families. There were more people to manage, but far fewer than during the tournament itself.

I mentioned the marshals being assigned to shifts. Most were assigned to one shift on multiple days, a few did consecutive shifts on the same day. Pretty much all of them were assigned to no more than three or four shifts total. I should point out at this time, however, one exception. For the privilege of being hole captain, I was assigned to each shift, each day. That meant, counting driving time, 12 to 14-hour days Monday-Wednesday. At least, in June, I didn’t leave and arrive back at home in the dark, which was often the case in January at the Farmers. A small consolation, however. It still meant getting home, grabbing something to eat, and then pretty quickly going to bed to get at least some sleep before getting up at 4:30 to start over.

I came home really tired those first few days. According to my steps app, I started off on Monday of tournament week doing 11,928 steps and six “flights climbed.” That’s a little more than six miles. There is also a fair amount of elevation change on 11S. The tee is significantly elevated. Walking back and forth on the hole, which was what I did much of every day, was taxing for me, who had probably averaged a couple of miles a day, and that’s from mostly walking the dog. After a few days, however, I realized that those early days were getting me more fit to handle the rest of the week. I actually felt better as the week went on.

Overall, Monday-Sunday, I walked 89,228 steps and 56 flights. That’s about 45 miles, an average of 6+ miles a day. My highest totals came on Thursday, day of the opening round. That was the first day we had a full complement of marshals, 9-10 each shift, so I was more than usually active and mobile. The totals on Thursday were 16,129 steps and 12 flights.

Thursday, the day of the first official round, got off to a slow start. Morning fog, the “marine layer,” covered sections of the course, including the area around 11. Start of play was delayed 90 minutes and I didn’t get to leave to go home until 7:30 pm. Several groups didn’t finish before dark, so play was also delayed on Friday morning for them to complete the last few holes. (In 2013, my first year volunteering at the Farmers, I spent my first day on 11S on that Saturday. I sat at the tee as fog came and went, and the tournament was delayed again and again. Finally, in mid-afternoon, the PGA called it a day. I had sat there for eight-plus hours, watching the 11th green appear, disappear, appear . . . . Sure was worried that might happen again.)

As with previous tournaments, my attention was focused on one hole and, even then, not on the golf played there, per se. The focus was on managing the situation, i.e., the marshals, fans, players, caddies, and their interaction. I might see the leader board on occasion, and notice who was leading, but it had little relevance to my job. Interestingly, besides the Mickelson event noted earlier, there was not a lot of action on 11S until the last day, and the last few groups.

When the leaders began to come to 11S on Sunday, there was quite a number of them near the top. It seemed at the time logical to expect a playoff among players tied for the lead after 18.

American Express had been handing out devices that carried on-course live audio coverage of the tournament. It was limited to the event and the location. You needed an American Express card to get one. American Express and I had a troubled relationship years back, so I didn’t have an AmEx card. Walking around on Saturday, I believe, I saw one of the device boxes lying on the fairway. I picked it up to dispose of it, expecting it to be empty. It felt heaver than empty, though. I opened it and found a device, which helped me keep track of things going on in the tournament.

Listening to reports, I learned then that holes 11-13 had been the most difficult on the course during the tournament, with 11 being the hardest. Well, those holes were where some of the leaders started to fall off the pace on Sunday. Starting with Bryson DeChambeau. Missing a hole-in-one on 8 by, literally, an inch, he was leading the tournament when he came to the 11th tee. He pushed his tee shot into the rough to the right of the green. Chipping onto the green, he two-putted for a bogey. DeChambeau followed that with another bogey on 12 and a double bogey on 13. He had 44 strokes on the back nine and finished at +3, tied for 26th.

The last twosome — South African Louis Oosthuizen and Canadian Mackenzie Hughes — provided an exciting finish for 11S. Oosthuizen hit a shot similar to Dechambeau, to the right of the green. Hughes hit a major hook.

His ball struck the cart path to the left of the green, bounced up . . . and never came down. The crowd — by now, it was a crowd following the last twosome — gathered around where the ball had bounced and some started looking up. Then someone, and then someone else, saw the ball, caught among the branches of a tree.

As Hughes, his caddy, and tournament officials got to the scene, and saw the ball, the crowd began to chant “Shake the tree! Shake the tree!” I became increasingly concerned that some of them would, indeed, try to shake the tree to loosen the ball.

One of the media photographers was able to get a closeup of the ball, and Hughes was able to confirm it was indeed his. The original ball stayed where it was and a USGA official permitted a free drop for a replacement ball on the cart path. A drop to the grass next to the cart path, however, was a stroke penalty. Hughes ended up with a double bogey on the hole, while Oosthuizen, who hit his tee shot to about the same place as DeChambeau, shot a bogey 4.

The average score on 11S during the tournament was 3.39, 13 percent over par, the highest percentage over par of any hole.

When Oosthuizen and Hughes finished at 11S, my job was pretty much done. A bunch of the marshals at 11S volunteered to go to 18 for the conclusion. The USGA wanted to avoid what had happened a month before at the PGA Championship, when fans moved onto the fairway of the last hole, almost surrounding winner Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka and creating a potentially dangerous situation. Marshals lined the fairway to prevent something similar from happening at Torrey Pines.

There wasn’t the drama that day, however. Three groups ahead of the last twosome, Jon Rahm had made two long putts on 17 and 18 to finish at six-under-par. Oosthuizen had bogied 17 and needed an eagle on 18 to tie Rahm. He shot a birdie 4, but lost by one.

By that time, I might have gotten home. All I wanted to do when I did get home was . . . nothing.

As I said at the top, I was and am glad to have finished my job at the US Open. I met new people, including lots of great marshals assigned to 11S. That’s likely my last volunteer stint at a US Open Golf Championship. The marshals committee chair for the 2022 Farmers Insurance Open has gotten in touch to see if I’m interested in volunteering again. I answered in the affirmative. I contemplate a pleasant time as hole captain at 3S, one of the prettiest golf holes I’ve seen. Hope it comes to pass.

Confident young golfer
On Wednesday, I believe, I noticed a young girl, maybe 12-13, wearing an “Amherst” sweatshirt. Amherst College is located in Western Massachusetts, the region where I was born and grew up. Later, I saw her and her mother, I figured, near the tee at 11. I approached them and asked the girl, “So, who went to Amherst?” Her mother answered, “I did.” “And,” she added, “I went to Amherst High.” “Wow, a townie!,” I said. “And Croatian,” she said. Yes, she certainly realized how distinctive she was at tony Amherst.

I asked the girl if she intended to go to Amherst. “Oh, yes,” she said. Short pause. “And I’m going to be on the golf team there.” I praised her confidence. I also asked if she would consider attending Williams College, Amherst’s historic and intense rival. “Williams is my backup school,” she said. Ooooookay.

Logistics
In the version of Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs” for golf tournament marshals, near the top are the location of the nearest bathroom facilities and how/where do I get lunch.

Interestingly, for us at 11, those were both at about the same place, and not particularly close. To visit a porta potty, we had to walk a couple of hundred yards past the grandstand on 11 that was at the rear of the green. Not terrible, but another elevation change, and significantly farther if you were at the crosswalks or, especially, the tee.

Because we were never flush with marshals, it was especially difficult to release people to go to get lunch and sit down to eat it. I encouraged marshals who had afternoon shifts to get lunch before reporting, and asked morning shift marshals to wait for their relief. Too often, however, it was not always possible. I tried to take people’s places to allow them to get their lunch and bring it back to their post. That meant that almost every day I was able to get to the lunch stand only near the end of the time slot (11 am-2 pm). I had the ham and Swiss once. I almost had the tarragon chicken salad once, but I realized the mayo-laden chicken salad had been sitting out in the heat for quite a while. The hummus options were usually the only ones available, so I concentrated on the chips and cookies.

At least for the fans, alcohol was available more readily.

Close call
On Friday, I was assisting at the green and moved to its right side when a shot landed among the fans there. As I motioned people to move back, I heard people yelling, “Watch out!” A ball then plopped down very close to me and rolled to within a foot of the previous ball. That’s when I learned you can mark your ball on the fairway, or rough in this case, not just on the green. Each of the players, who were not going to make the cut, got up-and-down for pars.

Swag
For the ~$150 I paid to volunteer at the US Open, I got a ball cap, two polo shirts, and a rain jacket. The shirts and jacket were Ralph Lauren Polo. Some of the marshals assigned to 11S who had also worked the previous US Open at Torrey Pines in 2008 didn’t think the quality of the shirts was as good as at the previous Open. I wasn’t a fan of the “look,” but I think the jacket is pretty nice.

To identify me as hole captain, I was provided an armband. When I started to put it on, I realized how large it was in circumference. The average size of biceps for men my age is 12.9 inches. As a smaller-than-average guy, mine may well be even smaller. The USGA armband was 15-1/4 inches in circumference, so maybe they intended it for Bryson DeChambeau or Brooks Koepka, not me. There was also no velcro option to make it smaller. Poor design. I was advised by a USGA rep to just hang it around the lanyard that held my credentials.

The armband was mine to keep, so that’s a nice memento. I would have dearly liked to have the US Open hole flag that flew on 11, but I assume that graces the den of a major donor to the USGA.

Post-tournament, the USGA sent me, and I assume all volunteers, a replica of a poster of appreciation signed by all the players. That was a nice touch.

Sunday at the US Open Golf Championship traditionally falls on Fathers’ Day. USGA reps handed out a button acknowledging the day to likely dads, both volunteers and fans.

And, to mark the circumstance that has had impacts on all our lives, we were provided US Open face masks. I hope it is a one-off and none will be necessary at future tournaments. I expect this may be a curiosity item in years to come. “Why did great-grandpa have a mask for the golf tournament?”

 

No, I’m not talking about weird agriculturists. The topic here is the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open held at Torrey Pines in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Players, caddies, marshals, TV, but no fans. Really quiet surroundings. A different, somewhat freaky, experience.

For the record, the winner of the tournament was Patrick Reed. He tied for the lead after the first round, fell one stroke behind to second on Friday, was tied for the lead after three, and forged ahead on Sunday to a five-stroke win, 14 under par.

As a marshal/hole captain, I spent my days on one hole and that narrow focus pretty much excludes having a good sense of the flow of the tournament, who’s moving up and down, etc. This was especially true this year due to the absence of scoreboard bearers accompanying each group.

Besides all the changes to the tournament as a result of the pandemic, the biggest change for me personally was a change in the hole to which I was assigned. A few months before the tournament began, I was offered the opportunity to move from the par-5, 615-yard, 9th hole on the South Course to the par-3 3rd hole on South. There was somewhat of the sense of going out to pasture, moving from managing 16-30 marshals to overseeing 2-3 and dealing with a hole with far fewer complexities. But I was ready for that and 3 South is iconic at Torrey Pines.

Reportedly the most-photographed hole on the course (it’s the cover photo on the official course map), the hole features an elevated tee and a green on the edge of a bluff over the Pacific. From the tee, where the elevation adds to the view, one sees the community of La Jolla on the horizon to the southwest. The hole was featured continually on the Golf Channel and CBS telecasts, with drones and the Goodyear blimp offering dramatic aerial views. This is a drone-eye view, copied from the telecast (if a small image appears, click on it).

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Here’s a gallery of overheard views. (Click on the image and you can advance through larger images.) 

Equipment means a lot to golfers. Keeping up with new developments and trends fuels the golf economy. Equipment for marshals is pretty basic: your tournament hat, shirt, and jacket. This year, a new addition — masks — which were required for all marshals all the time and for other officials as well. Players did not wear masks and only some caddies did.

My getup was a double mask. I wore a KF94, the Korean version of the N95, underneath a silicone mask that contained a filter of similar efficacy. I had not worn masks for such an extended period (5-7 hours each day for 5 days) as during the tournament. They were not uncomfortable. I could breathe easily, even climbing up rather steep terrain. Breathing into them that long, however, sometimes created quite a bit of humidity and the atmosphere in there turned a bit “funky.” I became certainly more empathetic about health care and other essential workers who must wear masks for extended periods, day after day.

We were also checked out before entering the course. We had to pass through temperature and security screenings. On Thursday, they had switched to a scanner used at airports, which didn’t require someone putting a sensor up to your forehead. It went off, however, when I passed by. The young woman monitoring the device took an individual reading of my temperature with a handheld sensor, and I was fine. She said I might have had “cap warmth.” I had worn my cap in from the car, only taking it off as I passed the scanner. From then on, I removed my cap on the walk from my car to the screening tent and never had another problem.

The first day of a tournament is the pro-am on Wednesday, when non-professionals pay tons to play a round with a pro. No TV, very few fans outside of family and friends and usually a really long day for marshals and other volunteers. With two waves of participants teeing off on holes 1 and 10 in the morning and afternoon, it has always been a dawn-to-dusk assignment. Until this year. For me, with a 45-minute drive to Torrey Pines (without traffic), it was still a 3:30 am wakeup and a pre-dawn drive. First tee-off was 6:40 am, essentially dawn. But the pandemic brought participation way down and there was only one wave, and that smaller than usual. The last group went by hole #3 shortly after noon and we were out of there by 1:30.

The first round of the tournament, on Thursday, featured a distinctive special moment. When I had posted on Facebook about my first day at the course, a high school classmate messaged me, asking me to convey regards to Richy Werenski, a young golfer from South Hadley, near where we had grown up in Springfield, in Western Massachusetts. I saw that Werenski was in the fifth group. When he entered the tee box, I said, “Go Western Mass.!” He glanced over at me, seemingly surprised, smiled, and said “Yeah. Thanks.”

Other friends had said earlier they hoped that, being on a par-3 hole, I might have the chance to see a hole-in-one. Done. Richy Werenski, buoyed, I think, by my “hometown encouragement,” hit a hole-in-one. I didn’t see it occur. I heard people around the green clap and cheer. Werenski didn’t see it either. He looked around and asked, “Did it go in?” It did. 

Thing is, it was early in the first round and Werenski was with a like group of golf non-superstars. There was no TV and no video to share on social media. Thus, it was recorded officially as a hole-in-one, but, in many respects, it never happened, except for the several people who literally saw it. The next morning, I reported to the marshals’ office to pick up my radio and stuff and told the above anecdote. No one there had heard about a hole-in-one. There was also no mention in media coverage of the day, at least that I saw. (After shooting 6 under par for the first two rounds, Werenski was 8 over par on the final two rounds, finishing 2 over and tied for 60th.)

There were forecasts for Friday that predicted steady rain of 1-2 inches in La Jolla throughout the day. That’s a lot for this area. I had prepared, purchasing rain pants and waterproof socks to go with my waterproof hiking boots and waterproof shell. My outfit, seen at right, ended up being effective, though it was not needed as extensively as expected.

When I left Fallbrook that morning, it was raining. When I got to Torrey Pines, the sky was clear and sunny. It had rained hard overnight, but the morning on Friday was pleasant. Skies to the east and north contained lots of clouds and the expectation was that inclement weather would happen there.

Late morning, however, skies to the west started to look threatening. Forecasts online called for rain and wind to come around midday. The forecasts were accurate. I’ve learned that rain around here often comes in cells and/or bands. Brief intense rain and wind, a bit of a respite, then another intense band, and so on. That was generally what happened on Friday. At one point, I heard the 15 South hole captain on the radio reporting hail. Here is a gallery of weather-related images from Friday. (Click on the image and you can advance through larger images.) 

Five years ago, the 3rd hole had been something of a bad-weather TV star. The last round of the tournament then was suspended because of weather. The course was evacuated and the round was completed on Monday, without fans or marshals, because damage to trees on the course had made it dangerous. Before play was called, however, it continued in very difficult conditions. Colt Knost was in a threesome playing on 3S, trying to convince a PGA official that conditions were just too difficult for him to attempt his putt. The PGA official was stoic and urged Knost on. Colt putted and the ball went left of the hole. Then, however, the wind caught it and pushed it back toward the hole, and into the hole for a birdie. Hilarity ensued, as you can see in this clip, and the video received wide exposure.

Saturday was crisp and sunny, but Sunday was warm enough that, for the first time during the tournament, I removed my jacket. Still with a cold weather layer underneath, I should emphasize. At one point on the tee, I saw a cameraman come up to the tee and put himself directly opposite from me, with the golfers teeing off between us. Hmmm, I thought, I could end up on TV. Done. Here’s the screenshot from Golf Channel, with golfer Sam Burns also in the picture. The camera was there for all three golfers, but this was the only view of me that made the telecast.

It’s probably the best screen capture of me at Torrey on TV that I’ve seen, except, of course, for the mask thing. On the other hand, the one at left is pretty good, too. Certainly, the “other person” in the shot is even more notable than Sam Burns. This was in 2014 and Tiger was picking up his ball on 9 North at the conclusion of his round. He failed to make the cut that year and skipped the Farmers for a few years. It was my first year as a marshal at the tournament.

When your horizon for almost 180 degrees is at sea level, indeed is the sea, skies become quite big. I enjoyed watching the changing skies during the day and as the days changed. Here is a gallery of such views. (Click on the image and you can advance through larger images.) 

While I have enjoyed watching excellent golf shots over the years, I always have considered people-watching the more fun part of being a marshal. People in tiger outfits, other outrageous clothing, inebriated, happy, loud. Their absence this year was profound. There were some people on the course, probably connected with Farmers Insurance or the Century Club, the local philanthropic group that puts on the tournament, but even the leaders or most popular groups of golfers attracted maybe a dozen spectators at most. Instead of the constant medium-level din of thousands of people attempting to stay quiet, punctuated on occasion by roars of appreciation at a particularly great shot, there was often deep quiet.

The absence of ambient sound greatly heightened the perception of singular sound. Caddies hushed marshals 50+ yards away who were chatting. Not talking loudly, just chatting. Twice, I was called out from 20+ yards away for folding a piece of paper and then handling, not opening, a bag of potato chips. It made one a little paranoid that some caddy or player somewhere in the radius of activity that constituted the cone of silence would single you out for what normally would have been lost in the ambience.

Torrey Pines is to host the US Open in June. I have applied to be a volunteer and have been accepted, though I don’t know what particular role I will fill. I hope conditions at the time will permit at least some fans. People are watching on TV, of course, but the absence of fans on the golf course made it seem as if you were on the sound stage of a television production, not at a golf tournament.

Another unusual experience in these most unusual 11 months.

 

Australian Marc Leishman came from back in the field on the final day to win the 2020 Farmers Insurance Open January 26. He shot a 7-under-par 65 to win by 1 over Jon Rahm, 3rd-round leader and winner of the tournament in 2017.

With my duties as hole captain of 9 South on the Torrey Pines course finished, I sat in the volunteer tent and watched the final holes on television. Leishman had finished his round with a 2-shot lead over Rahm as Rahm played the 18th. In winning in 2017, Rahm had sunk a 60-foot putt on the 18th for an eagle. This year, his second shot landed eerily close to the same spot on the green as in 2017, giving him almost the same putt.

If Rahm had sunk another eagle putt, he would have been in a playoff with Leishman. That would have required many marshals, including me, to stay longer. I had nothing against Rahm, but I was rooting for a miss. His putt was closer than was comfortable, but it missed and he got a birdie. I got to go home.

My five-day stint at the tournament began Wednesday, January 22, the day of the pro-am. Toughest day of the tournament for volunteers — dawn to dusk. For the first time in my life, I believe, I was in line for gas at Costco before the gas pumps opened. Below is the scene at 5:20 am at the Escondido Costco. Already a line. :0

Wednesday is the day on which the marshals and I adjust to changes in our duties on the hole and to train new marshals. There was good and bad news in terms of changes, the most significant being that parking lot shuttles would be using the cart path and spectators would also be permitted on that East side. The changes required some initial adjustment, but they seemed to have little substantial effect, at least on what we needed to do.

For me, at least, the golf during the tournament is almost immaterial. My “world” consists of the 615 yards 9 South runs, the surrounding nearby area of the course, and the marshals who are assigned. On that first day, Wednesday, I spend nearly all the day walking to various marshal positions, talking with people, checking out conditions, trying to resolve issues that might arise. On that date, I walked 20,153 steps covering 7.7 miles. Broke my domestic PR set last year at the tournament, but still fell short of the 9+ miles I walked on a day in Berlin last June.

The weather played some games with us this year, though nothing like the conditions in 2016 that suspended play for the day. This time, it was just fog. Just fog, he says. In 2013, fog delayed the start of play on Saturday. I sat on the tee of 11 South, a par-3, watching the green appear briefly then disappear. Play was continually delayed during the day . . . and never took place that day. I was there on the tee from about 7 am until mid-afternoon, when play was finally cancelled.

On Thursday, fog rolled in quite quickly, but left after about 25 minutes. The picture below shows the difference, looking at the 9th green.

Fog also delayed the start of play on Saturday, but only for about an hour.

As has been the case whenever Tiger plays the tournament, celebrity trumps golf and he attracts bigger crowds than even the tournament leaders. The ninth and 18th holes somewhat overlap at Torrey Pines South, with the 9th tee heading south and 18th tee heading north. Here’s a photo shot from the 9th tee of the crowd at the 18th tee when Tiger’s group was up, at back left.

The only real photo of Tiger I got was from the back and far away. Marshals are to avoid using our “inside the ropes” status to take photos, so this photo was “subtle.” It’s Sunday, so it’s red shirt for Tiger.

This photo also shows one of the changes made to 9S in preparation for the US Open, which is to be held at Torrey Pines in 2021. A large area is now behind the green to collect shots that are too long. Shooting from it onto a green that slopes away the area adds to the difficulty of the hole.

There is also a new sand trap short of the green on the right that occupies some of the fairway. A report I saw said it was to encourage players to try to reach the green in two. During this tournament, I saw only two players — Rory McElroy and Bubba Watson — reach the green with their second shot.

Here’s a TV schematic showing the changes in 9S from last year.

And here, just because I like raptors, is a TV screen shot of two of Torrey Pines’s locals.

Volunteers at the Farmers for the past three years are given priority as volunteers at the US Open at Torrey Pines. I submitted my application yesterday. There is also another Farmers Insurance Open scheduled for January 2021, so watch for what I hope will be two interesting reports on golf and nice photos next year.

I spent five days last week (January 27-31) at Torrey Pines Golf Course, working as a hole captain and marshal at the PGA’s Farmers Insurance Open. Four days were rather uneventful, but the last day, Sunday, was special.

Conditions were so bad in terms of wind and rain that play was suspended a couple of times and finally ended before the final players were finished. Here’s a brief video of images from the tournament that gives just a flavor of changing conditions.

What a difference a week makes. It is sunny and mid-80s right now. 🙂

The weekend at Torrey Pines was very nice and the tournament, for me, went well. By well, I mean the fog was generally light when it came and I was able to get home in the daytime.

Below are some screen captures, in this case photos of my TV screen. Still trying to figure out how to move what’s on my DVR to my computer. Anybody done that?

Jason Day, eventual winner of the tournament, tees off Sunday on the 11th, my hole. The vertical red line marks my location. I spent the day on the right side of the green.

Day, following his putt for a par, with me at left.

In 2013, the first year I worked at the tournament, I also was at 11 on the weekend, also on the right side of the green. Got to watch Tiger make a great shot out of the trap. I have a wide-brimmed hat on in this pic, kneeling behind him, as he picked up his par.

 

 

 

Here’s an overhead of Torrey Pines, showing both courses, North and South. The vertical red lines show my locations — upper left on 11 North and lower right on 11 South.

 

Similar view is obscured below, as is occasional and typical this time of year.

On Wednesday, during the pro-am, I was able to get a picture of Phil Mickelson. He’s on the 18th with his caddy.

The LPGA tournament is March 25-29, so look for more, and better-looking, pics late next month.