Herndon’s excellent U.S. Open adventure

This year’s U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club near Pittsburgh was highly memorable, and not just for the 64-foot birdie putt J.J. Spaun made at the 18th hole to clinch his unexpected victory.

The challenges of the golf course were also heightened by the weather, especially the Sunday afternoon downpours. Spaun credited the resulting stoppage of play with helping him bounce back after his round’s first five holes.

Diane Herndon of Rehoboth Beach was there as a USGA rules official to help run the event. We chatted about her experience, which she described as “just incredible. I just had a great time.”

Herndon worked a shift each day, with a 30-minute commute from a downtown Pittsburgh hotel. She said, “The first day, it took them a long time to play. It was crazy. If they went into the rough, they had to do what us normal ordinary people do and just get it into the fairway in a lot of cases. They were happier if they went past the rough and into the areas where the spectators were walking. At least you had a good or okay lie.”

During her Thursday shift at the 11th hole, Emelio Gonzalez hit a drive into the penalty area, as others did on the steeply side-sloped hole. After he made a partial wedge shot to reach the green, Herndon learned that Gonzalez had a cracked ball.”

I’d never seen one. It was a Titleist,” she said. 

She called out to a nearby PGA Tour rover, there to provide consistent rulings on timing and ground-under-repair issues.

“I said, ‘I wanted to confirm with you,’ and he goes, ‘Yeah, they crack.’ I said I’d never seen that, and he goes, ‘They hit them hard out here,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, but I worked the Delaware Open and I worked the Maryland Open. They hit it hard too.’”

“I should have asked him if I could keep it,” she said. “He probably threw it away.”

Under the rules, he could replace the damaged ball without penalty.

For Friday’s round, Herndon oversaw the par three 16th hole.

“I watched Patrick Reed hit it through the green into the rough. He ain’t getting out of there. It was so hard,” she said.

Herndon worked the ninth hole Saturday, stationed where most right-sided drives tended to land. She saw three spectators hit by golf balls. 

“I got on TV because [Xander] Schauffele hit a guy in the leg. It stopped his ball from going into the rough on 10. I had tons of people all around. I was trying to get everyone moved. The marshals said they were told not to touch the ropes. I said, ‘Listen, I’m telling you we’re touching the ropes.’ We pulled the ropes down and got people out of the way,” Herndon said.

She oversaw the seventh hole Sunday and was there when the rain started, just as the leaders, Sam Burns and Adam Scott, completed it.

“My rover came and asked if I’d like a ride in. As he’s riding me back, all of a sudden, I’ve never seen it rain so hard. We got pounded,” Herndon said. “The rain was loud, but I could hear with my earpiece, and I hear them going ‘Everyone ready, five, four, three, two, one’ and they sounded the alarm because the course was unplayable. It had to take 30 seconds. I’d never seen rain drops like that. I’d never seen them close a course down so quickly. It was so wet it was crazy. But I was done for the day.” 

Herndon stayed dry with her official USGA rain suit by Peter Millar. However, she had only recently bought the previous official USGA rain suit, at the same $600 cost, made by Ralph Lauren.

“At least they gave us enough money for the [official] shirts and everything, but two rain suits in the last two years cost me $1,200,” she laughed.

Local club competition results

The Kings Creek Ladies Golf Association 9-Holers played a team net shamble game June 19.

Kathy Andrus, Christine Coffin, Denis Sills and Francie Young won the first flight. Kara Bourdreau, Tish Brey, Prabha Karapurkar and Chris Piasecki finished second.

Terry Berrera, Deborah Chase, Deborah D’Orazio and Darci Whitehead won the second flight. Pamela Cranston, Kathleen Irwin, Jennifer Walker and Joanne Yurik took the second spot. 

This spring the Women’s Peninsula Golf Association held its team match play tournament involving 21 Delaware and Maryland golf clubs in 4 divisions. The Mulligan’s Pointe squad won their division for Low Net, earning a spot in the playoffs. 

In the semifinals held at Greenhill Golf Club in Quantico, Md., Mulligan’s Pointe defeated Bayside Resort Golf Club. For the finals, held June 18 at River Marsh Golf Resort in Cambridge, Md., the Mulligans Pointe squad defeated the Heritage Shores team. The Mulligan’s golfers included Brenda Lewis, Sue Brady, Janet McCarthy, Wendy Michaelson, Sue Ahern, Tammy Findlay and Maxine Ansbach.

The is the second consecutive year Mulligan’s Point won the Net Division.