Knowing the Score

When the world’s best golfers tee off this week at the 144th British Open, a Terp will be counting their swings.

Adam Clark ’05 has spent the last seven years as a volunteer scoring official for the United States Golf Association, working events like the U.S. Open and walking alongside some of the sport’s greats.

“It’s really a thrilling experience for a sports fan,” he says. “For a golf fan, it’s an out-of-body experience.”

Clark grew up in New Jersey and started playing golf around age 8. After completing his psychology degree at UMD and beginning a career in health care research management, a family connection helped him land a coveted spot as a scoring supervisor.

He still works a day job in Austin, Texas, but flies to a handful of events each summer to score the matches. This year’s British Open, held at Scotland’s St Andrews—known as the birthplace of golf—will mark the first time that Clark goes abroad for the international leg of the four major championships.

“That’s the one everyone tries to work,” Clark says. “I’m pretty excited about it.”

A scoring supervisor is one of the behind-the-scenes cogs in a major sports event. The group of 12 to 15 people is on their feet 12 hours a day, making sure the scoreboards are functional and troubleshooting any of the electronic devices used to score the golfers during play. When the field gets winnowed to the final contenders on Saturday and Sunday, Clark will team up with a rules official and walk with a pair of golfers.

Like many sports, you can boil golf down to a simple goal: hit the ball into the hole with the fewest swings possible. But Clark has to be on his toes for situations like when golfer at a Senior U.S. Open thought he had lost two balls off the tee, and was about to hit a third, when someone found the second one. He also has ultimate responsibility for a golfer’s score. When a golfer signs his own card, any discrepancies with Clark’s own scoring will be overruled.

Clark still has some time to be a fan. With top-ranked Rory McIlroy pulling out of the British Open due to an injury, he thinks that Jordan Spieth has the best shot and will win his third major championship this year. But in those dizzying moments, like in 2010 when he walked with Tiger Woods at Pebble Beach, Clark has to keep his eye on the ball—and the club.

“That’s when I knew I had a unique opportunity,” he says. “At the same time, I can’t lose focus.”