OAKMONT, Pa. — When the U.S. Open’s second round concluded on Saturday morning at Oakmont, it was official: an odd number of players had qualified for the third round. That meant it was go time for one man who wasn’t actually in the field.
“It was hard,” Devin Gee said by the clubhouse a few minutes after he’d finished. Gee is Oakmont’s head pro, having replaced legendary Bob Ford after 37 years at the helm. He’s also the golfer tapped as marker; like the Masters, the U.S. Open prefers to have twosomes in every tee time on Saturday and Sunday. So at 9:12 a.m. he teed off alongside Philip Barbaree, Jr. — the last man to make the cut on the number.
Gee took over in 2017 after several years as Ford’s protege, and although this is his first Open as the top man, it’s not his first time as marker — in 2016, the last time Oakmont hosted this event, he played on the weekend.
“I found out like the night before in ’16, which was probably a blessing because I was so nervous that if I had known any more in advance of that, it probably would have been torture,” he said. This time around, Scott Langley of the USGA confirmed a few months in advance that he’d be up to play. That at least allowed him a few minutes’ preparation.
“I don’t know if I should say this, but I did sneak to the back of the range yesterday and the day before and I hit about 30 balls each day, which just kind of makes the club not feel totally foreign,” he said. “But that’s the amount of preparation. It’s so busy this week, you’re certainly not thinking about being sharp to go play — just trying to find the center of the face to get it somewhere out there.”
Oakmont presented a stern test on Thursday and Friday, with a two-day scoring average nearing 10 over par. That left plenty of players weary and worn — but Gee said the membership was thrilled to see the course live up to its tough reputation given the amount of rainfall they’ve had in the area.
“Look, the U.S. Open in general, but at Oakmont, we know that firmness is critical if we’re really going to protect scoring. So we’ve had so much rain on the weekend and in the month of May in general, to go into the weekend with 3-under leading, I think everyone is pretty thrilled with that,” he said.
Overnight rain meant that Gee played a softer, friendlier Oakmont on Saturday morning. But he certainly didn’t use the word easy.
“I’m sure the scores will go lower today just given how soft it is. But we’ll see,” he said. “I was surprised by — the greens certainly weren’t firm, but they were firmer than I thought they would be after that rain last night, and they were fast this morning.”
A question circulating all week was what a 15-handicap would shoot at Oakmont under tournament conditions. Gee knows Oakmont, he knows 15 handicaps and he’s now played in U.S. Open conditions. What’d he think?
“A lot. A lot,” he said. “To give you an idea, someone asked me yesterday if you played, what would you shoot? I said, hey, if I shoot in the low 80s, I’d be happy, which is probably close to what I shot.”
He wasn’t sure exactly the number he’d posted playing alongside Barbaree; he was more focused on survival, he said. But it’s not just the course itself that would make it tough on an average golfer.
“The element of playing around people, for someone that hasn’t done that, that’s as much of [the challenge] as anything, until you get comfortable with that. I’m not going to put a number on it, but it’s probably like most things in golf. The score is a little bit higher than what we think it would be for all of us, right?”
What’s interesting is that Gee isn’t the only member of his marriage to have served as marker in a USGA event. Last year, the U.S. Senior Women’s Open was at Fox Chapel and Gee’s wife Katie played as marker — leaving Devin with their young daughter Clara, who was less than enthused about the opportunity.
“This was, like, way less stressful than that,” he said. “We got to the putting green, [Katie] is getting ready to go out, and Clara, our daughter, is saying hi to Katie. I pick her up to take her away, and Clara is like, ‘Mama!’ And then, like, total tantrum. I’ve got her over my shoulder walking away while Katie is teeing off. So this was easy compared to that. It did look like I was kidnapping a two and a half year old.”
In all, Gee said, it was a delightful day, not just because of the neat approach shot he hit into No. 10 or the ovation he got walking up No. 18 — but because of the proximity he got to the tournament and its competitors, including Barbaree, who’d made an inspired run through the cut line for the first time in a major.
“He was incredible,” Gee said. “I did tell him on the first tee: I’d better not see you tomorrow, and I don’t think I will.”
That’s the funny thing about being the marker: you play with the guy in last place. On Saturday, Barbaree shot 75, which wasn’t the best score in the field but certainly wasn’t the worst, either: Cam Davis shot 82 to drop into solo 67th, which means barring any WDs he’ll play with Gee on Sunday.
Sounds like they could have a good match.
