by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Downtown businessman Tommy Dudley won’t be in his office for the rest of the week. Instead, he’ll be in San Diego at the U.S. Open walking stride-for-stride with Tiger Woods. And Phil Mickelson. And Adam Scott.
Dudley owns Industrial Waste Services Inc. which treats non-hazardous wastewater. His company has a permit with both the City and the State, and owns treatment plants in Jacksonville (on Talleyrand Avenue,) Mobile and Chicago. Dudley bought the business in 1986.
“We sell the oil for reuse and the solid waste goes into an industrial landfill,” said Dudley, whose offices are in the old Army-like barracks building across the street from the Baseball Grounds. “The oil is used for asphalt and power plants.”
Dudley opened the plant in Mobile in 1990 and the Chicago plant six years ago.
Prior to starting IWS, Dudley owned a company that sold pumps, hoses and nozzles to local petroleum companies and was in real estate before that.
He said there are no plans to expand the company, mostly because Dudley is pretty busy in and out of the office. He’s president of the Florida State Golf Association and is considered as knowledgeable about the rules of golf as anyone around here. He’s a past president of Timuquana Country Club, which has one of the area’s best courses.
His understanding of the game and near-perfect annual test scores have made him a regular at the U.S. Open and other United States Golf Association events. Starting Thursday morning about 9:30 Pacific time, Dudley will serve as a rules official for his 16th U.S. Open. But never has the stage been bigger.
The group of Woods, Mickelson and Scott represents the top three golfers in the world and arguably the three most popular. Last Saturday, Dudley found out he would serve as a rules official with the group along with Tom Loss of Seattle. Mike Davis, the USGA’s lead official at the Open, called Dudley to see if he was interested.
“I told him I had worked with Tiger before,” said Dudley. “He said, ‘Multiply that by 10.’”
Dudley’s job, outside of monitoring each player and responding to any rules issues that may arise, will be to also control those allowed inside the ropes. In addition to the throng of media that will surely accompany the group, Dudley expects the gallery to follow the trio practically en masse.
“If Tiger putts first on a hole and makes it, there will be a mad scramble to the next tee,” he said, adding he’s been told the crowds could be around 50,000 each day. “My job is to keep them (the players) from getting penalties.”
Dudley got interested in the rules side of the game in 1987. He was in San Francisco for the U.S. Open at The Olympic Club and ended up spending time with some of the top-ranking USGA officials. Each night at dinner, the topic became a different rule. He was given a copy of the “Decisions on the Rules of Golf” and told when he could read it and understand it, he could become a rules official.
“The first year I took the test I did reasonably well,” said Dudley of the 100-question test, of which 50 are open book and 50 are closed book. “I became more and more involved.”
Over the years, Dudley has aced the exam three times and posted three 99s (one came because he simply skipped a question and forgot to go back to it). He said the biggest challenge is time, especially for a business owner, since you only get three-and-a-half hours to take the exam.
“If you are a businessman and all of a sudden you remember a phone call, you may run out of time,” said Dudley, adding he reads all of the questions and all of the answers at least twice.
His knowledge is well-known and appreciated — his assignment to Woods, Mickelson and Scott is reflective of what others think of his understanding of the game.
“He’s very accomplished and good with large crowds,” said Craig Smith, director of media relations for the USGA. “He’s flexible and has a lot of patience. Tommy is good with people.”
Smith says the ability to handle large crowds will come in handy.
“It will feel like late Sunday afternoon on Thursday morning,” said Smith, adding Dudley was selected partly at random, but was on a short list of those capable of the job.
Dudley got to San Diego this morning and plans to check in and then walk the course. He’s never been to Torrey Pines, a public course, and wants to learn as much as he can before play begins.
“You have got to know the problem areas and where the potential penalties are,” he said.
What does he get out of it? Nothing but thanks — he’s a volunteer, and will pay his own way.