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John Reitman

By John Reitman

USGA confident of a secure Open at Merion

e87d74b04309b858d736c20ec15302fe-.jpgLong before a bomb attack rocked this year's Boston Marathon, the USGA had a comprehensive security plan in place to help ensure a smooth and safe 112th U.S. Open this summer.

 
"I am very confident in our security measures and protocols," said USGA spokesman Joe Goode. "Some of them I cannot discuss, because then our security protocols no longer would be secure."
 
When spectators arrive at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa. For this year's U.S. Open scheduled for June 13-16 they can expect to be subjected to strict security measures that are the result of a template the USGA uses to ensure a safe environment at all of its many national championships.
 
Typically, the USGA works with local, state and federal law-enforcement agencies on safety protocols. In the case of this year's U.S. Open, that list includes the Haverford Township Police Dept., Pennsylvania State Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security, Goode said.
 
"The safety and security of spectators, 200,000 of them expected over the course of the week, the players and their families, the 5,000 volunteers that come out and help stage the event on our behalf, and our staff we take that very seriously."
 
Large, walk-through magnetrometers, the same devices that scan passengers at airport security checkpoints, will await U.S. Open patrons at Merion's main entrance, and handheld wands will be used at secondary entrances around the perimeter of the property, Goode said. Items forbidden on the Merion grounds during tournament week will include cell phones, smart phones, personal data assistants, mp3 players, tablets, backpacks, coolers and large bags.
 
Still, the ease with which something like the Boston bombings - in which three people were killed and 176 others were wounded - can be carried out is a reminder that safety protocols for large-scale events must be continually examined and modified to ensure a reasonable amount of safety.
 
"In our planning we do take into account many contingencies, including the type of threat and the type of incident that unfortunately occurred in Boston," Goode said. "It's always prudent to continuously review these plans to determine if additional measures are necessary, and we're doing that right now. We do that because we have to consider that we a major championship is being conducted in the outdoors in a largely open environment.
 
"In light of the events at the Boston Marathon we are reviewing our security measures and partnerships with those state, local and federal authorities. And we'd be remiss if we didn't."
 
Matt Shaffer, director of golf course operations at Merion said tournament director Hank Thompson and his staff have been busy since long before the Boston Marathon ensuring a safe and secure venue for the Open.
 
ff55ab8a85c0bcd354c1eeb411160dbe-.jpg"I'm sure what's happened in Boston doesn't give them any extra level of comfort, but the security already is unbelievable," Shaffer said. "Fifty-seven days out (before the Open) and everyone who is working out here is wearing credentials, the property is fenced off in advance, and every law-enforcement agency is in here. If you're not wearing credentials, you get checked and you have to put it on."
 
One of the first areas of concern for USGA officials, Shaffer said, was the maintenance facility, namely the fertilizer storage area.
 
Shaffer's crew moved into their new 26,000-square-foot facility in late 2010. It includes a separate storage unit with locked, explosion-proof cabinets specifically for fertilizer.
 
"We've explained to them that the types of fertilizers we have constitute minimal volatility," Shaffer said. "And, by then our inventory will be low just because we need the space for other things for the Open.
 
The maintenance facility also is fenced off from the rest of the golf course for the tournament and armed police will guard two entrances to the building during the Open, Shaffer said.
 
"This site is already secure," he said. "This is truly a secure compound."
 
Interns also live in housing units in the maintenance facility and an overnight custodian offers an additional layer of security.
 
Lefty Fleck, who cleans the maintenance facility from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. daily is not your average clean-up crew. A former gunnery sergeant and boxer in the U.S. Marines during the Vietnam War, Fleck also serves as, according to Shaff, a sort of a den mother to Merion's interns.
 
"If my mother was like that, I'd have been scared to death of her," Shaffer said. 
 
"If I'd known when we built the place that we were going to hire Lefty, we could've save money on gates, because I dare anyone to come in here overnight when he's here."





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