Over the years a very small number of players from the state of Colorado have gone on to successful careers on the PGA Tour. Two of the most notable are Hale Irwin and Steve Jones who both went on to win U.S. Open Championships. This week, another Coloradan has arrived on center stage at the U.S. Open but he is not a player.
This week a former Colorado Golf Association Intern, Thomas Pagel will be handling the commentary from the television tower involving the Rules of Golf in his position as Senior Director, Rules of Golf and Amateur Status with the United States Golf Association. For us Rules nerds, it’s a bit like having the kid you played on the high school golf team make it on Tour!
After serving as the CGA’s P.J. Boatwright Intern (a one-year internship program sponsored by the USGA) in 2002, Thomas, a proud Colorado State University Ram, was hired full time by the CGA and was promoted over the next few years to the position of Assistant Executive Director. From there Thomas moved on to serve as the Executive Director of the Utah Golf Association before taking his golf administration skills to the USGA. Thomas is extremely bright and dedicated and he worked very hard to master the Rules of Golf, scoring a perfect 100 on the Rules of Golf test while on staff with the CGA.
This week the USGA’s U.S. Open website has featured daily Rules “vignettes” with Thomas explaining Rules situations that are likely to occur at Olympic Club this week. Under his direction, the USGA has added some great new tools to their website including a video series on the Rules of Golf explained. These videos are great teaching tools and bring to life the bland “legal” language that you find in the Rules of Golf book. In addition to these videos are excellent articles under the heading “Our Experts Explain” which cover notable rulings in the game.
I encourage you to visit the USGA’s website at www.usga.org for more information. In the meantime, look for Colorado’s own, Thomas Pagel, explaining the Rules to the world this weekend during U.S. Open coverage!
