THE MEMORIAL: DAY 2

Tournament announcer Tim Doran introduces the first golfers to tee off at the Memorial.

Ernie Els makes his approach shot on the seventh hole before quite a following, but his performance wasn’t enough to make the cut.




THE MEMORIAL: DAY 2

There’s no name too big or too tough

As golfers address ball, announcers address crowd

By Jeffrey Sheban
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

    Gentlemen, start your golfers. From the exalted to the obscure, no one begins play at the Memorial Tournament without a proper introduction at the first tee.
    Sergio Garcia and Phil Mickelson might need no introduction, but Kevin Na and Y.E. Yang?
    The job of announcing the pros to the patrons belongs to a select few members of Muirfield Village Golf Club. Requirements include a booming voice and a bucketful of composure. Dark slacks and a gray club blazer help, too.
    “As long as you don’t mess up the names on a regular basis, you get to do it again next year,” said Dr. Sam Smiley, a Dublin dentist who has been sounding out names and hometowns for a dozen years.
    This year, Smiley shared opening-round honors at hole No. 1 with another circuit veteran, fellow Dublin resident Tim Doran, a trade association president.
    Although they’re not hosting Saturday Night Live or addressing the United Nations, they feel pressure to get things right.
    Both were outwardly calm as the gallery crowd swelled, but Smiley was obsessing over this unfortunate collection of syllables: Mark Cal-cavecch-i-a from Te-que-sta, Flo-ri-da.
    Where’s Ben Hogan when you need him?
    Golf-tournament introductions are nothing like their head-knocking counterparts in the NBA or NHL. There are no flashing lights, no publicaddress system, no pulsating music. Just a man amid nature reading off cue cards.
    “Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the 2008 Memorial Tournament,” Doran said, starting the competition. “First from the tee, from Buffalo, New York: Dudley Hart.”
    Rounding out the first group were Bubba Watson of Bagdad, Fla., and John Mallinger of Long Beach, Calif.
    Game on.
    The announcing task is deceptively simple given the stakes: Come Sunday, one name from the field of 120 will be on a $1.1 million winner’s check.
    “We’re off like a herd of turtles,” said Paul Long, 67, who selects and supervises the announcers.
    For the next hour and 39 minutes, groups of three were launched from the first and 10th holes at precise 11-minute intervals. The process repeated at 12:30 p.m.
    Unless someone arrives late to the tee — or a player’s name is mangled — little can go wrong. But you never know.
    One year, Dr. Ray Tesner slowed the process a bit by waiting to introduce Larry Mize, famous for a 140-foot chip shot to win the 1987 Masters Tournament in sudden death.
    Tesner was playing the dramatic shot in his head.
    “He had to clear his throat to get my attention,” the former announcer recalled of Mize.
    Several years ago, former Ohio State running back Jeff Logan introduced a group that included Fred Couples, a fan favorite, and the lessoutgoing David Toms, who must have considered his introduction subpar.
    “He mumbled under his breath that the inflection in my voice was more positive for Fred Couples,” Logan said.
    Later that round, Logan recalled, the golfer got in a shouting match with a fan.
    “My guess is David Toms was just having a bad day.”
    Player introductions are far too tame for television, all the more reason for Tom Ball of Syracuse, Ohio, to see the tournament in person.
    He and cousin Richard Mayer of southeastern Columbus make a point of planting their chairs directly behind the first tee on the first day of play.
    “It’s a tradition for us,” said Ball, 53. “What I like to hear is, ‘Welcome to the Memorial Tournament’ on that first day.
    “I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”
    jsheban@dispatch.com 


KYLE ROBERTSON DISPATCH
Ernie Els makes his approach shot on the seventh hole before quite a following, but his performance wasn’t enough to make the cut.



NEAL C. LAURON DISPATCH
Tournament announcer Tim Doran introduces the first golfers to tee off at the Memorial.