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 to 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 press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon, as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as 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.

As I write this, I am still recovering.

From what?

From walking 18 holes four days in a row at the American Express Golf Professional Tournament in La Quinta, California, about two miles from where I have the good fortune to live in the winter.

My volunteer role, one of more than 1,000 at the event, was to serve as a “walking marshal.”

That meant, with an assigned group, I walked down the rough line “inside the ropes” (such rope lines always mark the sides of fairways at professional golf tournaments, providing a way for spectators to stay off the golf course during play).

My job was to make sure spectators honored the rope line, plus to help get players and caddies from one green to the next tee. For the first three days, I was on the Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West. Then, for the final day, the fourth, I was on the PGA West Stadium Course.

A highlight of the four days was that I had the good fortune to be assigned to walk on the second day with two great players – Phil Mickelson, the official “host” for the tournament (and by the way, my daughter Lissy’s favorite player), and Tony Finau, who has made a name for himself recently with stellar play around the world, including in the recent President’s Cup.

With this context, here are a few perceptions day-by-day.

DAY ONE

I was following two excellent players:

• Cameron Champ, who only a couple years out of college at Texas A&M, has already won twice on the PGA Tour and hits the golf ball prodigious lengths.
• Billy Horschel, a veteran player who made a name for himself several years ago by winning the $10 million FedEx Cup.

As for Champ’s length, consider this. On the golf hole where drive measurements were taken, there were markings on the fairway all the way to 330 yards. Champ hit his drive 361 yards, the longest of the day, which required volunteers to pace off the extra distance.

DAY TWO

This was my highlight day, following Mickelson and Finau.

Given that I was such a key cog in the wheel, I was able to help Finau shoot a remarkable 62…and the score could even have been lower. True confessions: Obviously, I had nothing to do with his great play.

Mickelson struggled in at least two ways: He hit a few bad shots from which he couldn’t recover. And, while he hit a number of good putts that he thought were in, they weren’t.

Sound familiar for us “regular golfers?” Yes.

Both Mickelson and Finau conducted themselves with skill and class, including the relationship with their two amateur partners.

Early in the round, as I was walking inside the ropes, I overheard Mickelson go into an extensive summary of advice for his amateur partner on how to hit chip shots. In my hearing, Mickelson referred to the advice he himself got from his short-game guru, the famous Dave Pelz.

Good for Phil, I say. He did not set out to remain above the fray in some kind of exalted status – a status it could be said he deserves, especially because of his status as “the host” for this year’s event, not to mention his 44 golf wins around the world. Rather, he came across as a real human being – also a reference he deserves.

DAY THREE

In a way, a forgettable day today as I walked with two journeyman players, Brian Gay and Hunter Mahan, neither of whom made the cut to play in the final round.

Mahan, remember, was the U.S. player in the Ryder Cup over in England who fluffed a chip shot, which confirmed that the U.S. would lose the cup. It is likely that Mahan has never been the same since, though he has won six times on the PGA Tour.

The highlight on Day Three was getting to watch one of the amateurs, Laurent Hurtubise from Canada. He plays with only one arm, his other being only down to the elbow. At about 50 years old now, he has played one-handed since he was 11.

To say he is admirable is an understatement and, to put a point on it, he recorded a hole-in-one during play on Friday. He said it was his third, but his first in a tournament.

For the limited number of fans who followed Gay and Mahan, Hurtubise was the star of the show.

DAY FOUR

Nothing more needs to be written about this day other than to say it involved Abraham Ancer, the golfer whose family hails from Mexico and is the best player the country has produced in years.

He shot 9-under on the tough Stadium Course, but came up two strokes short of Andrew Landry, who was playing in the last group, two holes behind Ancer. Landry birdied the last two holes to win by two, thus avenging a playoff loss in the same tournament three years ago.

Ancer played great golf, never risking even a bogey. He also interacted well with the crowd, which was composed of many Latinos.

So, for those keeping track, in my role as a walking marshal, I prodded Tony Finau to shoot a 62 and Ancer to shoot a 63. I may go into this line of work!

For a golfer, volunteering at the American Express was a good experience: Up and close and personal with a number of good pros, a process which sparks at least three perspectives.

The first is admiration for the quality of golf the pros play, under pressure, a large crowd and TV cameras. As the ad saying goes, “these guys are good.”

The second is to reckon how much fun it was to share this good experience with my family – my wife who functioned as my chauffeur to get me to and from the golf course every day, my son who is far better at golf than I ever was or ever will be and who was interested in my ”draws” for the tournament, and my daughter who followed my experience, especially with Mickelson, with great interest.

The third is intimidation, at least in a sense. These guys are so good it is almost impossible to understand how far away you are from the most competent kind of golf the pros display – far away in years, not to mention ability

So what, I tell myself. Pro golf never was even a slight possibility for me, but I still relish playing the game – with my family and with friends…friends who have stuck with me through thick and thin over many years.

So, today, my motivation is to get back to the real world of golf – and that is a good thing for me.

AND THIS FOOTNOTE: On the day before the tournament, my wife and I went out for breakfast at a well-known La Quinta eatery. What did we find? On the menu, there was this label: Phil Mickelson Eggs Benedict. Apparently, Mickelson often goes there when he is in town, but this time, sadly, we didn’t see him. If he had been there, no doubt he would have wanted my autograph!