A California Experience - A Marshall's Perspective
by Gord Hunter



It was not a typical California Sunday morning. The wind was blowing so hard that the rain was falling horizontally outside the clubhouse of the Newport Beach Country Club. Foul weather and unplayable course conditions had just forced cancellation of the final round of play of the 2000 Toshiba Senior Classic golf tournament one of the premier events on the Senior PGA tour.

In the clubhouse several hundred men and women, most wearing bright red sweatshirts and red and tan golf hats had gathered. They were some of the more than 1000 persons who had paid $65US each to volunteer to help run this event. Until rain forced cancellation of play they had been marshals, scorers, hospitality workers, standard bearers, parking lot attendants and the dozens of other jobs that have to happen to accommodate 75 professional golfers, hundreds of participants in the ‘pro-am’ and the thousands of paying spectators attracted to the event. Many would continue to work transporting the golfers to the airport while others still had to tear down and pack away the paraphernalia that goes with a big golf tournament.

The volunteers were gathered to hear from two speakers. First, tournament winner Allen Doyle was to say that he “couldn’t thank enough the many volunteers who made the tournament possible.” He went on to thank them in many different ways. So many ways that by the end it seemed like enough. But how could he leave anyone out?

Then tournament co-chairman, Jake Rohrer, stepped to the microphone to make the announcement many seemed to be waiting to hear. Yes, as hoped, despite the last day’s rain out the tournament would be able to turn over a cheque in the amount of $1 000 000 to the benefiting charity, Newport Beach’s Hoag Hospital.

The volunteers clapped and cheered. For the most part they lived in the Newport Beach area and they knew the hospital and were happy to do their part for it. They knew their work helped make the tournament possible and helped defer expenses that would otherwise eat into that donation to the hospital. Reaching the million-dollar donation level was a milestone worthy of their pride.

I stood among my fellow volunteers sharing their disappointment with the weather and their pride in a job well done. But I’m not from Newport Beach. Heck, I’m not even from the States. How did I come to be there? How did I become a volunteer at their tournament?

Give credit to the Internet. When I knew I was going to be in California for a golfing/running holiday I checked golf sites on the web to see if there were any tour events going to be on at the time I would be there. Turns out the PGA tour was just leaving and the LPGA tour would be in Japan. The good news was that there would be a senior event in Newport Beach, a city on the Pacific coast about half way between Los Angeles and San Diego.




Doyle holds up the
Toshiba Senior Classic
trophy. (AP)



March 5, 2000
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- Allen Doyle was credited on Sunday with his fifth win in two years on the SENIOR PGA TOUR when the final round of the $1.3 million Toshiba Senior Classic was canceled due to rain. Doyle had a one-stroke lead over Howard Twitty and Jim Thorpe at 6-under-par 136 after a soggy second round on Saturday. An overnight downpour further drenched the Newport Beach Country Club and a bleak forecast caused the cancellation.

The threesome was to tee off at 12:33 p.m. ET, but the third and final round never got under way.

This is the SENIOR TOUR's first event shortened by rain since the 1998 Kroger Senior Classic. Last season's first major -- The Countrywide Tradition in Scottsdale, Ariz. -- was cut to 36 holes when the second and fourth rounds were canceled by snow.

Doyle, who has finished no worse than 15th in six events this season, claimed his first win since September. With a first prize of $195,000, the 51-year-old jumped to second on the money list behind Bruce Fleisher.



A link took me to their web site and information about the event. There I found a wealth of information. Gary McCord was the defending champion; he won a four-person playoff. Arnold Palmer would be playing this year, as would Tom Kite, Lee Trevino and most of top players on the senior tour.

One of their pages told me about volunteering. For barely the price of admission I could get a hat, shirt and pullover and get to work ‘inside the ropes’ and as any golf fan knows the view from there is much better than fighting for a vantagepoint somewhere in the rough.

Mostly on a whim I decided to volunteer my services. After inputting a few bits of personal information and my credit card number my volunteer application was electronically delivered across the continent. For tasks I requested standard bearer, walking scorer or marshal – all on course jobs. After all, if I was going to be travelling to California to be at a golf tournament I wanted to be able to see the golf tournament.

Within a week the reply came back that I had been added to the group of marshals handling the 18th hole. I exchanged e-mails with one of the chief marshals, Bill Barksdale. He gave me more than enough information to assure me that I would be a welcome volunteer. He told me I was to report to the marshals’ training session the Sunday before the tournament where I could meet my ‘hole captain’, Carl Stoehr. As I had said that I was available to work every day they took it to mean that I wanted to work every day. That entailed four rounds of pro-am golfers over two days on a shotgun start and the pro tournament itself, a 54-hole event. That put a big dent in my own golfing but what a trade-off! I loved every minute of it. It was neat to watch the teams of amateur golfers and how they interacted with their pros. Each amateur had paid $5520US for the privilege of playing two rounds of golf accompanied by a touring professional. Some were garnering valuable lessons from the experience while others seemed to be keeping their distance. I felt sorry for the golfers with Palmer as while the crowds weren’t large for the pro-am there were still quite a few spectators following him. As one who gets a bit rattled if there are more than my three playing partners around when it is my turn to hit I could sympathize with the high handicappers who found themselves in front of a moving gallery of close to a thousand members of ‘Arnie’s army’.


Howard Twitty, a 1999 Senior
TOUR Q-School graduate, just
missed a chance to tie
Doyle at 18. (AP)






Marshals weren’t really needed for crowd control during the pro-am but we were very useful chasing down and spotting errant golf balls. During the ‘main event’ we were busier keeping spectators still and quiet while the golfers were in their shot routine. As the last 150 yards of the long and narrow18th was lined with raised ‘hospitality suites’ we had to keep ready to warn of straying fairway wood shots that occasionally headed towards the suites.

During quiet times I was able to get to know several of my marshalling partners. We took breaks together and enjoyed the refreshments in the well-stocked ‘volunteer village’. We used complimentary food coupons to eat at the course concession stands and we were able to visit the vendors area, joining the other spectators in trying out the games on Toshiba computers and entering to win a Cadillac, use of a condo, free Chevron gasoline and a variety of other promotional prizes.

My fellow volunteers seemed slightly amused that someone would choose to come from Canada to offer his services for the tournament. Many took delight in adding ‘eh’s to their conversation to show that they knew something about Canadians. Kidding aside, I was able to assure them that it was an experience that would give me memories for a lifetime. Too soon the event was over. The prizes had been awarded, the volunteers had been appreciated and it was time to head for Los Angeles, one more game of golf and then a flight home.

During the flight I reflected on the events of the previous week. What had started out as a whim inspired by an Internet search turned into one great holiday and a terrific way to meet and interact with the people of a different community. Would I do it again? You can bet I’ll be involved when the duMaurier comes back to Ottawa in August but maybe you’ll also see me in Greensboro or Westchester or Houston. I wonder how long is the waiting list to be a marshal at the Masters in Augusta?