Gilroy
– Maintaining a good pace is always essential on a golf course,
but even more so at an event like last weekend’s AT
&
amp;T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
By ERIK JACOBSEN
Special to the Dispatch
Gilroy – Maintaining a good pace is always essential on a golf course, but even more so at an event like last weekend’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
However, with more than 150 professional golfers teamed with dozens of amateurs and celebrities, moving the Pro-Am along can be quite a challenge. Take into account that the tournament’s first three rounds are spread throughout Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill and Poppy Hills, and the event’s circus atmosphere becomes even more apparent.
Enter Jim Collins, the director of golf at Coyote Creek Golf Club in Morgan Hill. Collins spent Thursday and Saturday as a pace-of-play marshal at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, ushering groups through their rounds as quickly as possible.
“What the job basically entails is having one pace marshal going off with the first group on the first nine on each of the three courses,” Collins said. “We focus on the amateurs because we are not really there to give rulings to the PGA Tour players. We are there to help the amateurs with their pace, making sure they are picking up their ball when they can no longer help on the hole and so on.”
Collins spoke of moving a group made up of lesser-known pros Rob Rashell and Euan Walters through the front nine at Pebble Beach in 2 hours, 29 minutes Thursday. On Saturday, he accompanied Brett Quigley, who tied for fifth at the Sony Open last month, and fellow Tour pro Mike Hulbert at Spyglass.
Collins was offered the position because of his affiliation with the Northern California PGA. Although he wasn’t following notable celebrities such as Bill Murray, Bill Belichick or tournament-champion Phil Mickelson, he said just being a part of the action was satisfying.
“The real experience is being inside the ropes,” Collins said. “We had all access to the venues, and that is pretty special to walk around and see what’s in the player’s bag, seeing how they go through their routines.”
It was the second straight year Collins took part in the Pro-Am as a marshal, and he said he looks forward to possibly filling the role for three rounds next year. In 2004, Collins had the pleasure of being assigned a group that included comedian George Lopez and actor Andy Garcia.
“George Lopez was an unbelievably nice guy,” he said. “He was really talkative with the fans. Andy Garcia, on the other hand, needed some help with pace. We’ll leave it at that.”
Collins hopes to recruit other NCPGA members to take part as marshals next year. He said being able to offer knowledgeable golf expertise is also a great service to the tour pros who take the tournament more seriously than the amateurs and celebrities.
“(Quigley and Hulbert) came up after the round, shook my hand and said, ‘Thanks for walking around, it was nice having you out here,'” Collins said. “That’s because they knew I was helping the amateurs, and that in turn helps them with their game. By the fourth hole the amateurs were waving me over, and if I wasn’t there they would have been waving the pros over. (The pros) appreciated very much that we (marshals) were there.”
