Just like the Masters, the US Open has a marker on-hand who can be called upon if there are an odd number of players making it into the weekend. At Los Angeles Country Club, that comes in the form of their Director of Golf, Tom Gardner, who played marker for Ryan Fox during the third round of the third men's Major of the year.
Gardner, who has been Director of Golf for a near decade at LACC, will also be playing marker on Sunday, with the American almost speechless following the conclusion of his third round.
Although Gardner played marker on Saturday, he very nearly wasn't needed, with the Director of Golf stating: "I was standing in back of the 18th green with a friend, and I was telling them I kind of figured out there was one golfer who was out there who's right on the cut line, and he was going to have to play 16, 17, and 18 in even par in order to stay at an even number.
"I'm refreshing my phone, and Gil Hanse comes up, and we start talking, and we're chatting and he's laughing because I keep refreshing my phone. He parred 16 and, after what seemed like forever, he birdies 17. So at that point, I go, I'm out of here. I was meeting my wife up around here for a cocktail party, so I said, I'm out of here. Said goodbye to my friends, I go to the locker room, I change, I get in my car and I'm driving. I get a text from a member, and he said, 'you're in.' I immediately called him, I said, no, I'm not. This guy birdied 17. He goes, no, he doubled 18.
"All of a sudden I started getting a lot of text messages and a lot of emails and the club sent out an email to the membership. It's fun. Thank the USGA for giving me the opportunity. It's pretty special to do this in front of your membership on the course that you work at. If you were out here this morning on the first tee, there was a pretty loud roar. Got the juices flowing a bit. And playing with Ryan, and Ryan is a good buy, hammers the ball, and we just had a good time out there, played pretty quickly. What a day. Hoping to do it all again tomorrow."
It wasn't just Gardner who was the only LACC worker that was involved on Saturday though, as Head Professional, Rory Sweeney, caddied for Gardner. "Such a great experience," explained Sweeney who, along with Gardner, had attempted to qualify for the 123rd showing of the US Open.
"Tom is wonderful, a wonderful guy. He's our Director of Golf here, and a mad golf professional underneath him, and he's a great player. Honored to work at the club with him. He's just a great guy. To get to spend a special moment like that with him really was great."
It wasn't as if the pair were slow either, with Fox and Gardner flying round LACC, so much so that they actually finished five holes ahead of the next pairing! What's more, it wasn't like the golf was bad either, as Fox shot a one-under 69 to get to one-over for the tournament.
