This year’s WGC bittersweet for volunteer gallery marshals
Mike Slover and John Franklin consider themselves among the fortunate few this year.
Since the considerable spectator generated buzz—and the subsequent need for TPC South wind' s trademark “Hush y'all” paddles this time of year — won't be part of the WGC-FEDEX St. Jude Invitational next week, most of the event's hundreds of volunteers will also be watching from home. Crowd control, which is the primary objective for many of them, became unnecessary when the ongoing coronavirus pandemic prompted the PGA Tour to ban fans from the four-day tournament that begins July 30 in Memphis.
So, with a thick layer of pageantry peeled from a decades-old event that prompted people to come out in record droves last year, event coordinators have made similar adjustments to staffing. A group of volunteers that numbered between 1,600 and 1,800 a year ago is down to approximately 225 this time around.
Slover and Franklin have been gallery marshals for 26 and 21 years, respectively, on the course's par-4 No. 15. Slover usually serves as captain to a group of anywhere from 15 to 17 people who rotate in shifts in order to keep everyone fresh. But next week, he and Franklin — armed with a bottle of hand sanitizer and a face mask — will brave the elements by themselves.
“I imagine he and I will sit across from each other on the fairway and stare at each other for four days,” Franklin said. “We'll probably switch
sides every once in a while, just to spice things up. I never gave a thought in the world we'd have a year like this.”
Slover, born and raised in Germantown, found himself feeling slightly bittersweet as he watched spectator-less Memorial Tournament last week. On one hand, the retiree could feel the anticipation ratcheting up. On the other, it reminded him of the year (when the tournament was known as the Fedex St. Jude Classic) a heavy thunderstorm forced everyone off the course. Once it passed, play resumed without fans.
“It was so quiet. It was like you're just watching something, but you don't get that feel of a sporting event,” Slover said. “I don't want to say ‘eerie,' but it was just so quiet. I've seen big crowds, small crowds and, that year, no crowd. I don't want to say it was boring. But there was no excitement. When someone makes a great putt, you get a roar from all the people around the green. Now, you'll just get a couple of claps from a few people who might be in their backyard.
“For us that will be there, it will be exciting. It just won't be the same. But, there again, nothing's the same right now.”
Pete Buxton has been part of Slover's crew on the 15th hole each of the past four years. The Olive Branch, Mississippi, resident said although he's disappointed he won't be manning his usual greenside post, he's grown accustomed to ever-changing circumstances.
“I was actually supposed to go to The Masters for the first time this year, and that trip got canceled, obviously,” he said. “I don't really have any big (alternate) plans other than hopefully watching it on TV.”
Beside the atmosphere created by robust groups of golf fans and the camaraderie that many of the volunteers look forward to each year, everyone agrees the biggest disappointment revolves around the residual effect St. Jude Children's Research Hospital will feel. Before Slover retired, he worked in the medical equipment field, which took him to St. Jude many times over the years.
“I worked in their labs a lot, so I got to see where that money goes,” Slover said. “To me, that's the saddest thing. I'm fortunate. I still get to go watch golf. But all those families, the amount of money that's not going to be donated to St. Jude because of this, that's the saddest part of all this.”
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.