Hall's week in the irrigation room

For 13 years Noel Hall has been the assistant at TPC River Highlands,
site of this week's PGA Tour stop, the Travelers Championship. He
started out on the bottom of the ladder and took five years to work
his way up to the no. 2 position. This is his 18th tournament at the
Cromwell, Conn., golf course and he still revels in the moment.

"I enjoy the whole production. To me, this is what it's all about,"
said Hall who graduated from the University of Tennessee with degrees
in business and psychology. "I also enjoy the day-to-day without
members and guests, but there are two different existences."

Hall, who sleeps in the irrigation room during the tournament rather
than make the hour-long drive home each day, doesn't use all of his
downtime to catch up on rest. He can be found out on the course
watching golf, often sporting an orange shirt, in recognition of his
beloved Tennessee Volunteers.

Hall said that the week of the tournament isn't the most difficult,
even though his schedule can be determined by a combination of
tournament play and weather.

"Hell week was the last week. Advance week is the hardest," he said.

For him, even if the predicted thunderstorms cause havoc, that part of
the fun is rebuilding bunkers and squeegeeing greens so that the
course is once again ready for a PGA Tournament.

"If Mother Nature washes us out, that's just another excitement," he
said. "You look back and say, 'wow, I can't believe we did all that.'"

-- Anthony Pioppi