PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

Was I a key cog in the wheel?

Pick your image, but the answer was – and is — no. My reference is to a professional golf tournament in the California desert close to where I am spending the winter. As a volunteer, I covered the assignment of being one of many “walking marshals.” Did I matter? No. Was it a good, first-time experience? Yes.

If you are a golfer and ever want to be intimidated, just volunteer at a PGA golf tournament. You cannot believe how far and how straight the players fly the golf ball. Makes you want to take up another sport, though, of course, it needs to be added that the golf pros play a different game than the one we, as amateurs, play. I’ll stick with my brand of golf and continue to hope for the best.

Along with hundreds of others, I volunteered to spend large chunks of the last four days working at the 60^th annual Desert Classic in La Quinta, California.

There were 156 pros, plus, for the first three days of the tournament, two amateurs with each group of two pros. With such a large field over three courses, there were inevitable hitches, with an early one occurring through no fault of anyone – a one hour and 15 minute delay due to fog, which almost never is a threat in the desert.

As noted in the preamble to this blog, I usually write about two subjects – golf and public policy. This edition is obviously about golf as I share a few impressions of my days in the desert.

Day 1

I was assigned to be a walking marshal for a group that included two fairly well known pros, Brendan Steele and Jason Duffner. Steele played very well on a tough course, the Nicklaus Course at PGA West. Duffner played terribly, posting a 79, the highest score in the entire tournament on the first day.

• Steele appeared to have fun playing golf, talking amiably with his caddy and thanking all of us for volunteering. Duffner? No. Perhaps in part because he played so badly, he sulked around the course, appearing to have no fun as he remained aloof from everyone, including his playing partners and even his caddy. I don’t care if I ever watch him play again.
• In advance of the tournament, walking marshals were told that (a) they should walk inside the ropes, not on the fairway but in the rough, (b) they should report any unruly crowd behavior, (c) that they should not set foot on the greens; (d) that they should not attempt to engage players or caddies in conversation unless comments were directed to them by the players and caddies, (e) that they should keep their eyes on the spectators, not on the players as they played, (e) etc.
• The other walking marshal who worked with me violated all of these so-called “rules,” which I guess he considered as guidelines, not rules. Oh well, such is life.
• The biggest news of the day was that Phil Mickelson shot an incredible first round 60 – yes 60 – on the La Quinta Country Club course, the easiear of the course in the rotation, and the feat appeared to put him in a position to contend for the title come Sunday. I was on a different course, so I saw none of Mickelson’s feat, though it was the talk of the tournament on the first day.

Day 2

“My group” today had an international flavor – Cameron Davis from Australia and Sungjae Im from Korea. Both played well.

• Interesting to note that most pros over two rounds have left the pin on long putts, something they and we are allowed to do under the new golf rules.
• Speaking of rules, Im took a drop at one point from the old shoulder-high length. His opponent caught the mistake before Im hit his next shot, so he dropped again from knew height – also a new rule.
• The two players on this day and Steele on day #1 all appeared to tolerate well their amateur playing partners, though the amateurs tended, perhaps obviously, to make for a longer round. The inclusion of amateurs on the first three days of the Desert Classic is reported to be a reason why some pros don’t venture to the desert. But, of course, the field this year is not bad – Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose, John Rahm and Zack Johnson, among others.
• By the way, one purported fact I heard today was that it costs a bundle – more than I ever thought, so I won’t list a rumored number here – to play in the Desert Classic as an amateur. If there is good news here, it appears most of the money, however much it is, goes to charity. And, overall, the charity amount from the tournament this year will be beyond $1 million.

Day 3

My assignment on this day was to follow the group that included two pros – Steve Marino, who is trying to capitalize on the last tournament in his medical exemption status, and Tryone VanAsegen, who has a difficult name to pronounce. He hails from Texas.

• Marino shot a five-under score that put him in fourth place heading into the pro-only final round on Sunday. He has a shot to win or at least place second, which would yield to more starts on the tour. VanAswegen missed the cut.
• I was struck again by how many times the pro took advantage of the new rule change, which allows leaving the flagstick in the hole if they choose to do so. On almost putt longer than 30 feet over my three days on the course, the flag remained in the hole.
• My view? I would tend to take the fly out or at least have it tended on the theory that, if the ball hits the flagstick, it might ricochet away.

Day 4

As a surprise to me, figuring three days was enough, I was added to the list of volunteers for the tournament’s final round when the pros play without amateurs. The round occurs on the toughest of the three courses, the PGA Stadium Course.

• “My group” on this final day included three pros – Zack Johnson, Peter Malnati and Daniel Berger. Fun to watch each of them hit the tar out of the fall. If I had to pick a player to hit a shot to the green from about 100 hard, I’d choose Johnson. None played particularly well if shooting about 70 can be described as not playing particularly well.
• The instructions to us as “walking marshals” today seemed to me to make more sense than in previous rounds. With two walking marshals on each course, we were told that one of us should head down the fairway to the general landing spot for drives. The second would remain at the tee. Then, after the shots were hit, both of us would move down so we both, eventually, ended up near the green. Then, before everyone holed, one of us would head down the next fairway.
• We were told the PGA Tour had directed the revised process, which indicates that tour officials are in charge of everything at a tournament they control – and I mean everything.

So, in all of this, would I agree to volunteer again? Not sure. Probably today, as I recover from walking 18 holes four days in a row, I am about 50-50 for next year. Perhaps as more time goes by, I’ll be willing to volunteer again.

As for the end of the tournament, Mickelson, who shot the first round 60, came up one shot short. The winner, Adam Long, made a 14-foot birdie on the final hole after hitting a great second shot from a bad lie. It was a good story – underdog prevails over one of the best pros in the world. Still, I was rooting for Mickelson.

Enough. Tomorrow I go back to playing golf, not watching it.