Inside the Ropes at the U.S. Open

Getting my radio and heading out to find my group!

Pebble Beach, here I come! I have been invited once again to work as a spotter for NBC Sports, only this time it's the US Open at Pebble Beach! The big Kahuna of PGA Tour golf in the U.S. of A.!

Image via Wikipedia

With this, the 2010, United States Open Golf Championship, I will complete my goal as a spotter and golf enthusiast set almost 20 years ago, to call the hitting orders in all four of golf's major's. It all started with the 1992 British Open at Muirfield, (Nick Faldo won),  the 1993 PGA Championship (won by Nick Price in my hometown of St. Louis), the 1996 Masters Tournament (Faldo again after Greg Norman's 6 shot lead evaporated on Sunday)

This last major could end up being my swan song, and a final major to end my career as a TV golf spotter after having spotted for most of the golf networks at one tournament or the other for over 20 years. I'm 60 years old now and while I can still crank it out there about 250, I have been riding more than walking lately. I do plan on being in semi good shape for the walk around Pebble for four days!

For those of you new to the term spotter, and before you get the idea that I will rubbing elbows with the likes of Johnny Miller (although he is a super guy!) I will just tell you that normally the spotter is considered the lowest of the low in the pecking order of network golf coverage. He is contract labor for the network at each tour stop and his/or her job is to stay out of the picture and never speak unless spoken to. We get no special parking passes, no meals at the commissary, no rides on golf carts to get with our groups and no slack if we screw up!

A spotter will walk with the players, sometimes staying a shot ahead, calling the hitting orders back to a producer in a production trailer back at the TV compound. I have kept track of stats, fairways hit, greens in regulation, etc but mostly now we just do scoring. That's a much better job because you can walk with the players and standard bearers, INSIDE THE ROPES!

Which is the whole point of this part-time gig. It certainly ain't the money they pay us! But who can complain when they are inside the ropes at a major. Even a spotters TV credentials are impressive looking.

Here are a few of the ones I have had over the years.

This summer will mark the sixth time Pebble Beach will host a PGA Tour event and a major championship in the same year and I'm glad I will be there and be part of it. I'll be hitching up the 5th wheel and staying at an RV park in Salinas, CA. just north of Pebble Beach and the Monterey Peninsula. It's entirely possible that I will meet up with some PGA Tour journeymen there in their rigs and I will so some reporting to Twitter and Facebook on my Droid as I follow along. Stay tuned!

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