from USOpen.com,

Garrett Rank, 30, is a National Hockey League referee who happens to be pretty good at golf. The native of Elmira, Ontario, is a three-time winner of the Canadian Mid-Amateur title who also reached the final of the 2012 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, losing to Nathan Smith. A former hockey player, Rank overcame testicular cancer at age 22, and he worked several seasons as an American Hockey League official before joining the NHL staff in 2016. Rank, who qualified for the 2018 U.S. Open by shooting rounds of 71-71 in sectional qualifying on June 4 at Ansley Golf Club in Roswell, Ga., is sharing his experience this week with usopen.com.

As I walked off the 18th green at Shinnecock Hills after my first practice round on Monday I was in a bit of a rush, because I was scheduled to attend the Amateur Dinner that evening. I wasn’t really paying attention, and as I started toward the clubhouse, Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker were coming off the 14th tee, and we crossed paths.

Just to see the fans following Tiger on a Monday for a practice round, all the cheers and encouragement from the crowd, was something you can’t experience until you’re there in person and see it firsthand. It was surreal to be inside the ropes and playing in the same competition as Tiger, a guy I watched for a long time on TV and grew up idolizing. I stopped and thought, whoa, this is a pretty cool moment.

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