IAGA Member Spotlight – Ed Mate
By WP Ryan – Minnesota Golf Association
There is a weird feeling of being inside the ropes at a major tournament and very close to the action, yet not knowing what’s really happening on the golf course. That’s how it was for Colorado’s Ed Mate, one of the Masters Rules Committee stationary rules officials, who was positioned near the landing zone at Holly, Augusta’s famous 18th hole, an uphill dogleg right par-4 465 yards long during Sunday’s final round.
Since there’s no technology on the golf course, Mate was essentially in the dark when Jordan Spieth’s drive at the closing hole clipped a loblolly pine and ended up in the pine straw. Spieth, who started his round nine shots behind the leader Patrick Reed, had reached 9-under par for the day only to see his epic charge fizzle with a bogey at 18. Reed eventually finished at 15-under par, one shot ahead of Rickie Fowler and two better than Spieth.
“I was relieved that Spieth’s ball didn’t go into a TIO,” deadpanned Mate. If it had, he would have had to put his limited experience of TIO relief to a test. TIOs – temporary immovable obstructions – are the bane of the professional tours and major golf, where temporary structures throughout the golf course are common, such as TV towers, grandstands and restroom facilities.
While TIOs, which also include tents, signage and portable scoreboards, are less common at the state and regional level, Mate took the opportunity of an impromptu “TIO rules seminar” given by Tom Carpus, a tournament official with the PGA Tour who has worked the Ryder Cup and the PGA Championship.
Nevertheless, at the Masters wayward golf balls often find their way into or on TIOs, abnormal ground conditions, obstructions and sometimes even spectator beer cups.
Mate, a former Evans Scholar, has served with the Colorado Golf Association for more than two decades, including as its executive director since 2000. For the last two years during a particularly dynamic period of change, he has sat on the USGA’s Rules of Golf Committee as a representative of the IAGA. It is by virtue of his committee assignment that he, as one of more than 70 rules officials, has made the trip to Augusta National for The Masters Tournament – one of the game’s highest profile and prestigious men’s major championships.
This year, Mate was assigned to holes three and 13 on Thursday and Friday, and holes 15 and 18 on Saturday and Sunday. During the first round at Augusta’s third hole, Flowering Peach, a classic short par-4 at 350 yards, Charl Scwhartzel noticed his 8-iron was bent. Mate had to convey to the Masters’ champ from South Africa the less-than-favorable news that the club was considered fit for play and could be repaired during the round, but not replaced, per Rule 4-3a.
On Sunday at 18, Mate watched as Zach Johnson’s ball came to rest in a muddy, heavily trodden area with deep heel imprints. “The lie was absolutely abnormal.” Mate knew Rule 25-1 was in play, yet, per Masters’ policy, he called in roving official John Paramour of the European Tour, to make the ruling.
“As a group, the professional rules officials are confident, friendly, polite and they all wear white hats – there’s not a single ‘gotcha guy’ amongst them,” explains Mate.
While rules expertise is required, an agreeable bedside manner is even more crucial. “You’re trained to stay back and not insert yourself into the situation. There’s a lot at stake. If I’m not 100 percent comfortable with the ruling, I will call for back up.”
If the player balks at an unwelcome turn of events, Mate delivers the news adroitly. “There’s nothing I can do for you under the Rules,” he says.
Mate calls the Masters the best run tournament bar none. “They are a well-oiled machine, no detail is spared, and the Committee is always striving to make the tournament better.”
But, perfection is illusive.
Like competitions everywhere the Masters struggles with pace of play, especially during the early rounds when players go out in threesomes. Mate discussed pace with Ken Tackett, a former executive director of the West Virginia Golf Association, who has several Masters tournaments under his belt as a PGA Tour rules official.
“Wind, a testing golf course and the incredibly difficult putting greens all conspire to slow play,” says Tackett.
Notwithstanding Augusta National’s topographical challenges, pace of play is a problem that the perfectionists at the Masters have yet to solve. And, there’s one new twist rules officials must master (pardon the pun) come next spring: being the first men’s major championship conducted under the new modernized Rules of Golf.
With all new, completely reorganized and rewritten rules, which go into effect January 2019, players and officials alike should expect a few surprises. Mate advises fair warning to tournament rules officials and Committee members everywhere: “There may be unanticipated consequences, so fasten on your seatbelt.”