Mr. Fairway is Mr. Marshal

Mr. Fairway, who will be a gallery marshal at the AT&T National in July, attended the mandatory orientation meeting tonight. (Mr. Fairway plans to keep his loyal followers updated throughout the tournament which runs July 1-6.) In addition to learning the “drop rope technique” for controlling fairway crosswalks, Mr. Fairway learned how to use the “directional paddles” to indicate the flight of the ball to marshals in the landing areas and to address gallery miscreants with a firm, “Quiet, please!” or “Stand, please.”

However, the number one concern of the 750 marshals who make up more than 50 percent of the tournament’s 1,200 volunteers is … parking, a subject that dominated the 90-minute meeting. Tournament officials assured marshals that their parking passes for Lot C (volunteers) will also be honored in Lot V (vendors). The other big issue is the goody bag, which includes a nifty Nike golf shirt (Carolina blue), a white Nike golf cap, a water bottle, a guest badge, and some coupons for Subway and the California Pizza Kitchen. Veteran volunteers were miffed that the $55 fee did not include a belt this year. By the way, the official marshal badge (oval as opposed to a star) carries a warning that it is “a magnetic device” and should not be used with a pacemaker. Mr. Fairway was sure he saw quite a few pacemaker candidates in the audience. But not to fear, he also learned how to use the radio in case he needs to put out an urgent call for “Marshal down.”

Actually, Mr. Fairway is very excited to work the tournament which was started by Tiger Woods last year and will be played at Congressional Country Club in Potomac, Md. The big discussion is whether or not Woods, who is recovering from knee surgery, will make an appearance at the event. Mr. Fairway's fellow marshal Mike guesses he will show up to hand the trophy to the winner.

Hitting range balls while wondering whatever happened to Trevor Dodds.