By Bryan Eneas

P.A. golf marshal makes British Open debut

Jul 4, 2016 | 3:07 PM

The British Open will tee off for the 145th time this year in Scotland, and a local Prince Albert man will be marshaling the tenth hole of the tourney.

From tee off July 10 to championship July 17, Ed Elder will be in charge of keeping crowds quiet, directing them around the course, cleaning up tees and spotting balls for golfers at the Royal Troon golf course in West Scotland.

Elder said he’s never had the opportunity to do anything like this before and he’s very excited to showcase what he can do at the Royal Troon.

“At any given time they can take a marshal and put you at any different hole or give you any sort of different responsibility,” Elder said.

Elder’s opportunity came about on a bit of a lark. His cousin Roger was the captain of the 10th hole at Troon and told Elder he would be short a marshal for the upcoming event. Jokingly, Elder asked to have his name tossed into the hat.

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“He said ‘are you for real?’ and I said ‘yeah I’m for real,’” Elder said.

After the discussion with his cousin, elder said he was so excited he wasn’t able to sleep.

Only a few hours later he heard back from his cousin and was delighted to find out he’d been selected to marshal.

Elder said as a golf fan and is ecstatic to be able to walk the Royal Troon course. He’ll get a chance to swing his clubs at the historic course, as long as he doesn’t get whacked by a golfer during his shifts.

“Last week I was actually watching (old tournament footage)…the marshals are actually pretty close to the golfers when they’re swinging their clubs, that’s for sure!” Elder laughed.

He lands in Scotland Friday, July 8.

-with files from Nigel Maxwell

Bryan.eneas@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @bryaneneas