Icing on the cake
‘Dream come true’ for NHL ref set to tee it up at Shinnecock
SOUTHAMPTON, L.I. — There is a professional referee everyone finally should be able to root for when he plays this week alongside golf 's best at Shinnecock.
NHL ref Garrett Rank, a 30-year-old former Canadian national team golfer who overcame testicular cancer in 2011, earned a spot in this year's U.S. Open field in sectional qualifying last week in Georgia.
“Growing up in Canada, you're kind of born with a pair of skates on your feet so hockey is probably our number one sport. But golf is getting there,” Rank said earlier this week. “I enjoyed the game of hockey. When I battled cancer in 2011, it kind of put an end to my hockey (playing) career. Reffing was a way to stay involved in the game.
“I think I kind of forced the NHL's hand with my golf abilities. I think they looked at me and said, ‘Hey, we've got a chance to — we like this kid. We think he's good, but there's a chance that he's going to try and go play golf for a living.' So I think I got into the NHL a few years earlier than I expected. And at the time, I made a promise to myself that whatever panned out first, whether it be reffing or golf, then that's what I was going to choose to do as my career.”
Rank worked three games in the first round of the NHL playoffs, but when he wasn't assigned any postseason games thereafter, the former scholarship golfer at the University of Waterloo turned his attention to qualifying for the Open.
“I got a question the other day about whether I would want to finish in the top 10 in the U.S. Open or work Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, and I answered with the top 10 at the U.S. Open,” said Rank, a native of Elmira, Ontario. “I said I'd save the Stanley Cup Finals for 15 years down the road when my golf game wasn't as strong.”
Rank will play the first two rounds at Shinnecock with fellow Canadian Mackenzie Hughes and Australian Aaron Baddeley. Fellow NHL referee Daniel O'Rourke caddied for Rank last week during qualifying, but his brother Kyle will be on his bag at the Open.
Rank's father, Rich, died of a heart attack in 2014, making his dream foursome that much more fitting.
“I'd probably take Wayne Gretzky, Tiger Woods, and then my dad,” Rank said. “What a dream come true for me ... I've got a real job, so I consider this like the pinnacle of my golf career this week. I'm going to go out there and, 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.”