Diary from the Senior Open

By Carr McCalla

Louisiana Golf Association’s Executive Director

Since I wasn't able to share a diary from the U.S. Open this summer, I thought I'd share my experiences from the Senior Open at Inverness GC in Toledo in late July:

Tuesday, July 26

My alarm started buzzing at 4:20 a.m.…..I leave Lafayette at 6:30….. scheduled to arrive in Detroit at 11:30. All went well except my ride wasn't at the Detroit airport as I expected it to be. Fortunately, Joey Sindelar was also looking for a ride and we were able to convince one of the USGA drivers to chauffeur us to Toledo . Sindelar was headed to the course for a  practice round and I was headed to the hotel to get settled in there. It was an interesting hour-long ride to Toledo . I asked Sindelar how his health was as he had had a pulmonary embolism (a blood clot that moved from his leg into his lungs) at the Charles Schwab Championship about 20 months ago and he                 proceeded to spend the entire hour telling me the story. Even though he's fine now, he admitted it was a bit frightening when it happened.  Fortunately, there were medics on the course and they got him to the hospital and diagnosed quickly. He is really a nice guy and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

When I got to the hotel I checked my e-mail and Thomas Pagel of the USGA staff had emailed our        preliminary assignments for the first two days. Henri Wolbrette, who's on our LGA Board of Directors, is here to work as a rules official too, and is actually walking with Sindelar on Thursday. I have Mike Nicolette, Harry Taylor, and an amateur, Steve Liebler on Thursday, then on Friday I'm with Peter Jacobsen, John Cook, and Steve Schaff (an alternate who'd             gotten in when Scott Hoch withdrew). Should be a fun week. I also had an email from Henri. He and some of the other rules officials are headed to a Toledo Mud Hens baseball game tonight so I'll probably join them. I've seen the Dodgers, Yankees, and Pirates play on previous USGA excursions but this will be the first minor league game I've seen in years. The Mud Hens won 7-4 with a three-run homer in the 7th. We got back to the hotel just after 10 p.m. and I headed for the rack. I will plan on walking the course early tomorrow morning to beat the crowds and the heat.  We have to be back at the hotel by 3:30 or so to be able to catch the bus to Sylvania Country Club for our rules meeting.

Wednesday, July 27

I got to the lobby about 6:15 AM to catch a ride to Inverness . Got to the course by 6:30 and headed to the USGA office to pick up the rules information for my walk to scout out the course. The USGA staff         creates a document that identifies all the potential rules issues on each hole and it's critical to have that document with you on your initial walk around the course. I then got a quick bite to eat and headed off to find the locker room.  We are sharing a locker room with the players and it is very nice. It's two floors and we're on the second, which looks out over the 10th fairway; it's also close by the first and 10th tees. I go off No. 10 both days so it will be convenient for me to get to the tee right from the clubhouse without having the fight the crowds.

I hit the course before any of the players had     started and was able to get around in just under three hours. It is a gorgeous layout. I love Donald Ross courses and there's no doubt Mr. Ross was the        designer here. He designed wonderfully strategic courses that require as much brains as brawn. As is the case with most courses designed in the early 20th century, he allowed the lay of the land to dictate the routing of the course. There are a couple of creeks that he used creatively and some elevation change that he also incorporated into the design. There's             really not too much in the way of rules issues that we'll have to be concerned with, mostly just t                      emporary immovable obstructions (TIOs) such as grandstands, concession areas, and hospitality tents. When I made the turn to No. 10 I encountered some players for the first time and the first group I caught included one of our former LGA Junior Amateur Champions, Lake Charles native Willie Wood. He lives in Oklahoma now, so I had never had the chance to meet him. When he finished putting out on the 10th green, I introduced myself and we walked the 11th hole together. He couldn't have been nicer. He asked about some of our mutual acquaintances and we had a nice visit. When I finished, I headed back to the hotel to get some work done on our Mid-Amateur (it's next week at English Turn) and Senior Am (next month at the University Club).

Our Rules meeting and dinner was this afternoon at Sylvania Country Club, another old club (mid 1920s) in a suburb of Toledo . After the meeting I had a chance to spend some time with the USGA's new executive director, Mike Davis. I have known Mike pretty well for a number of years as we spent four years together as members of the USGA Rules of Golf committee. It's been a whirlwind few months for him since he was named as David Fay's successor. He's done some staff re-structuring and hired some new people at Golf House with more hiring to come. We discussed the USGA's involvement with the state and regional golf associations (SRGAs) and what his vision was with respect to that. It was a refreshingly open and honest discussion that I think will be a trademark of Mike's administration at the USGA. He sincerely wants input from all of the constituencies of the game and my hope is that we'll see some cooperative initiatives between the USGA and SRGAs that will be good for the game. I don't need to be at the course tomorrow until late morning (my starting time is 1:05 PM), but even though I can sleep in I hit the rack soon after I got back to the hotel from dinner.

Thursday, July 28

I didn't get up until around 7:30 (about the time the first ball got in the air out at the course) and when I looked out the window, the streets were slick. Today and tomorrow will be the dicey days with respect to the weather. Play apparently got off on time, but it appears it may be a challenging day weather-wise. The sky is gray but there doesn't appear to be any electricity in the air so it may be sloppy today, but not dangerous. I'll be sure and take my rainsuit with me today….the USGA always provides umbrellas for us .I just hope they're not all gone when I get to the course.

It is hot! I'm obviously used to the heat and humidity…..but I must admit at our LGA events I'm usually in a cart. Walking Inverness this afternoon was not much fun. I could feel the sweat dripping down my back walking down our first (the tenth) hole. I had introduced myself to my players, Nicolette, Taylor, and Siebler, and their caddies before we teed off. They were all very cordial so hopefully it will be a fun day. We had to wait on the 12th tee (our third hole) as the group ahead of us had a lengthy ruling. That created a gap in front of that group and by the time we got to the 15th tee they had run off and left us. I called in to the rover that we were out of position and he met us when we finished No. 16 and indicated to our guys that we'd be timed until we got back into position. Once a group goes "on the clock" it's amazing how the players' routines change. One of our players was taking forever to prepare to play, checking his yardage multiple times, re-thinking club selection over and over. But once the rover got his stopwatch out, he became more decisive very quickly. It took us almost six holes to get back into position. Once our rover indicated we were OK again and that he was leaving us, it was equally as amazing how quickly they went back to their previous routines. We only had four or five holes left to play and even though we began to lose time again fortunately we never fell back out of position. It was an uneventful day rules-wise. Taylor asked me to help him move a microphone that was interfering with his stance on the 18th hole and Siebler had an issue with some TV cables near his ball on No. 14 but that was it. All three played solid golf, Siebler finishing with a four-over 75, including a triple-bogey seven on the 18th, Taylor also had a 75, Nicolette hit it close on No. 9 (our 18th) for birdie and ended up with a 73.

We finished around 6 or so and I headed to the USGA Hospitality Room to cool down with some of the other rules officials. After a couple of beverages and some stories about our rules experiences of the day, I headed back to the hotel. I called Henri Wolbrette to see what his plans for dinner were and after a quick shower, he, I, and some other officials had a nice Italian dinner across the river from the hotel. I was in bed by 10:30 or so….since I'm leaving for home after my round tomorrow, I'll have to be checked out and on the shuttle to the course by 6:30 or so in the morning as my starting time is 8:20 a.m., with Mr. Jacobsen, Mr. Cook, and Mr. Schoff.

Friday, July 29

When I looked out the window this morning, I knew the day might be a challenge. It was raining and apparently the worst of it (according to the TV) was just west of the hotel around Inverness . When I got to the course around 6:45, we got the word that play had been delayed with the next update scheduled for 8 a.m. Fortunately I have an observer scheduled to go with me today. If the USGA has an oversupply of officials they will send out two officials with some groups and ask the observer to go ahead of the group to handle any issues that they can. It's always helpful to have someone identify where a ball might have crossed a hazard line, take control of crowd control issues, or simply give you a heads up that you have a ruling circumstance once you reach the area where the shots have come to rest. If we have too much of a delay, I won't be able to finish with my group as I have to leave for the Detroit airport by 2 or 2:30. I checked to see if Michael McMahon, my observer, could take my group when I had to leave, then validated with USGA staff that that procedure would work OK from their perspective. They were all fine with handling our group that way and shortly thereafter the rain stopped and the decision was made to start play at 10:15 a.m. That was a 2-hour and 45-minute delay from the originally scheduled first starting time of 7:30. That means my 8:20 starting time has now become 11:05. We decided that I would referee my group for our first nine holes then hand them off to Michael. That would give me a chance to take a quick shower and grab a bite to eat before heading up the road to Detroit . I met and introduced myself to my group and their caddies about 10 minutes before their starting time. Schoff's caddy had caddied at LeTriomphe in the Nationwide event there a number of times and had actually carried Mike Heinen's bag when he won in Houston in 1994 and again when he finished as runner-up in New Orleans in 1995 so it was fun visiting and reminiscing with him about days gone by. The rain had brought a much welcomed breeze and when we started our round it was much more comfortable that the previous day had been. My group got off to a consistent start, all making pars the first couple of holes. We had started on No. 10 again and my first ruling of the day came on the par-three 12th. The hole is about 185 yards with water skirting the green on the right. Cook hit what appeared to be a good shot just to the left of the hole location, which was back left. It was just a hair too far left and took a big kick off a greenside mound so that he had interference from the grandstand to the left of the green. Since grandstands are not ordinarily located on the course, they are defined as temporary immovable obstructions (TIOs) and are treated differently than ordinary obstructions. The local rule states that for a ball that is either in, on, or under the TIO, or when a player's ball, stance, or area of intended swing is interfered with by the TIO, the player is required (if he wants relief) to drop his ball in the nearest of the drop zones that are located in front of the grandstand. It took us less than a minute to determine where he needed to go to take relief and he was ready to play. The drop zone concept for TIOs was incorporated into most of the USGA's major events 3-4 years ago and it has really simplified these rulings. Cook's pitch was from a tough angle and he made the first bogey of the day for my group. Three holes later, I had my only other ruling, again with Cook. The 16th hole is a difficult par-4 where the players' drives cross over a creek about 255 yards off the tee. Most of the players can clear it with relative ease, but the farther right you go the longer the carry. Cook tried to hit a draw and it didn't turn as much as he intended. Once the creek reaches the right edge of the fairway it changes from a regular water hazard (yellow) to a lateral water hazard (red), following the fairway all the way to the green. There was no question that the ball was in the hazard….what I couldn't tell from the tee was whether it had last crossed the margin of the hazard where the hazard was marked yellow or red, a critical issue when determining where he'd be able to drop. Luckily, my observer, Mr. McMahon, was able to sort it all out before I got there. He, and some of the marshalls on the hole had found the ball (it was, indeed, in the hazard) and had also determined where it had last crossed the margin of the hazard. It was obvious that the ball had last crossed where it was marked red and he proceeded to drop a ball, under penalty of one stroke, and played on.

We reached the 18th green with no more rulings and I introduced my players to Michael McMahon as they left the green. I then headed to the USGA office to leave my radio, to hospitality for some lunch, then to the locker room for a shower, and met my ride to the airport. I was through security and waiting at my gate with an hour to spare for my 5:30 flight back to Lafayette . It's always a whirlwind trip when I only work the first two days….but this time of year with so many of our events on tap it's hard to justify a whole week out of the office.  I'll be home just long enough to cut the grass and clean off my desk before leaving on Monday for English Turn and our LGA Mid-Am.

It was an enjoyable trip……I'm so fortunate to be able to experience these championships and am thankful to be given these wonderful opportunities.

See you next month...Inside the Ropes!

Carr McCulla can be reached at cmccalla@lgagolf.org