NHL referee Rank swaps skates for spikes in US Open bid

As a referee in the NHL, Garrett Rank is no stranger to highprofile, high-pressure sport.

As an amateur golfer teeing it up in the US Open, the 30-year-old Canadian thinks that experience will stand him in good stead.

“I’ve got a real job, so I consider this like the pinnacle of my golf career this week,” Rank said on Monday at Shinnecock Hills, where the 118th US Open starts tomorrow.

“Obviously I have internal expectations on how I want to play and what I want to do. But at the end of the day, this is just a celebration for me and my family and friends.”

Rank punched his ticket to the US Open by earning co-medallist honours in sectional qualifying in Georgia.

A three-time Canadian Mid-Amateur champion, he has represented Canada in international golf and was runner-up in the 2012 US Mid-Amateur championship.

But like many in his ice hockey-mad homeland, Rank felt the pull of the rink as much as the links.

“Growing up in Canada, you’re kind of born with a pair of skates on your feet,” said Rank, a native of Elmira, Ontario, who played college hockey at the University of Waterloo before testicular cancer forced his focus away from both hockey and golf in 2011.