Farrell: Thousands told to ‘Shhhh’ at RBC Heritage golf tournament

A grown man took a call Sunday afternoon.

His cellphone rang as cellphones do when they’re not switched to silent mode.

So he answered it — right outside the ropes of the 10th tee box at Harbour Town Golf Links where the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing golf tournament was in its final round.

“Sir, sir,” said Jan Mulford of Sun City Hilton Head, a volunteer marshal at 10. She hurried after him as he leisurely walked with the crowd. “No cellphones.”

The man turned his head one-twentieth of its full pivoting capacity to acknowledge that he had heard her, and he nodded in exasperation like, “Yeah, yeah. I know, you hall monitor.”

Yes, he knew the rule.

He kept right on chatting, though.

Mulford shook her head.

“The cellphones,” she said, holding a long, vertical “Quiet” sign down by her side, “have been a real challenge.”

No. 10 is a wicked one for players and for marshals.

The fairway curves to the left so that balls occasionally end up on 16, which runs adjacent to 10 in parts. Some Heritage veterans even cover their heads when walking between the two fairways just in case.

The fairway is bordered by a lagoon on the left. On its right, it is abutted by a long path, which, during Heritage weekend, is a slow-moving sea of bodies dressed in pastels and plaids, with drinks in hand and mirthful voices that hitch a ride on the wind and work their way directly into the ears of players seeking a single moment of focus while they tee off.

Oh, and the tee box. It is across from the Harbour Links Clubhouse’s outdoor concession, where spectators gather around patio tables or on stylish outdoor couches with cocktails, beer, sandwiches and lots to say about this great life, each murmur contributing to a low roar that continues long past marshals have asked the crowd to stop talking.

As each player prepares to tee off on 10, the marshals move expertly to still the path and quiet the crowd and when at first they don’t succeed, they call out to the movers and they call out to the gabbers to knock it off.

They do so sternly, but politely.

Then they thank everyone afterward.

But there’s only so much the marshals can do.

Sometimes the caddy has to intervene. Other times it goes much further than that.

“One of the players yelled (at the crowd) yesterday,” Mulford said.

Marshals had silenced the throng, she said, but a child suddenly began to scream.

That player had had enough.

On Sunday, as Chad Campbell and Aaron Baddeley prepared to tee off, the crowd was stilled and quieted.

Some kept talking, though. So a marshal called out: “Quiet please.”

Then immediately again, “Quiet please.”

Then immediately once more, “Quiet please.”

Finally he had silence.

“HOW MANY TIMES DOES MY CAR GO BEEP BEEP BEEP?”

The words rang out crisply.

A woman — no, that wasn’t a child recalling the plot of his favorite book — had chosen that exact moment to ask the man she was with about her car and the annoying noises it makes.

This resulted in a fast and harmonious “Shhhh!” from the marshals (and other members of the crowd).

She hadn’t been paying attention.

It happens.

“You don’t realize how your voice travels on the fairway,” Bob Hohman, chairman of the marshals told me. “(The players will) hear you and back off the ball.”

Getting the word out to spectators that a player is about to tee off is especially difficult given the size of the crowd on Saturday and Sunday, Hohman said.

“Sometimes the crowd is almost body to body.”

Mulford said this is particularly the case on No. 10.

“Unfortunately, when they walk up here,” she gestured to the crowded path, “they’re in players’ peripheral vision, especially with all those pretty, bright colors.”

Across the path, she spotted a man answering his cellphone.

She rushed over to him.

He immediately put his phone down and his hand went to his chest in a gesture of sincerity.

He smiled.

“Sorry. Sorry.”

He walked away.

This story was originally published April 18, 2016 at 2:13 AM with the headline "Farrell: Thousands told to ‘Shhhh’ at RBC Heritage golf tournament."