Nutmeg50@hotmail.com

I worked as a marshall on the 6th hole for the first three days of the U.S. Senior Open championship at Sahalee CC. The highlight for me came today while marking balls on the fairway landing area. Fred Couples hit one of the worst drives of the day and it came to rest right along the spectator rope line in the right side rough. I quickly marked the ball and asked the spectators to move back , then took down the ropes to give poor Fred room to chip out. As I knelt there some 10 feet away I was shocked when he took out an iron and tried to hit under the branches of the nearest tree and fade the ball around another huge tree fifty yards ahead. Thwap! He hit the ball right into the branches and it came to rest only about forty yards away, still in the rough. Then he hit another low iron that bounced into the deep green-side bunker. At that point Freddy was just one shot off the lead and I was sure he was going to drop another shot or two. But as I peered under the branches to watch the bunker shot, I saw the ball rise, take flight toward the flag stick and drop into the hole for a par save. Pretty impressive.