A full-time NHL referee qualified for the U.S. Open
Follow your dreams!
The Stanley Cup Final is underway, but NHL referee Garrett Rank is more concerned with another event from an entirely different sport: golf’s U.S. Open. Rank, a 30-year-old Canadian amateur golfer, earned a spot in the Open after finishing tied for first place in a regional qualifier, as reported by Sportsnet.
And another NHL referee, Daniel O’Rourke, caddied for Rank at the event, according to ESPN. I don’t really know WHY that is so perfect and hilarious to me, but it just is. And also it’s pretty great, because Rank (and company) seems to be living his best life.
He officiated over 70 NHL games as a full-time referee this season alone. He joined the NHL as an official in 2014, and became a full-time referee in 2016. Rank shot back-to-back 71s and was 2-under par at Anley Golf Club in Roswell, Georgia, according to ESPN.
Just off the phone with Garrett Rank. After doing 73 games as a ref in the @NHL this year he tells me: "Was next to the best players in the world on the ice... next week I get to play with the best golfers in the world. It's a pretty cool life I'm living right now"
— Adam Stanley (@adam_stanley) June 4, 2018
As you can see from the Tweet above, Rank is pretty stoked about his position right now.
It wasn’t always so great, though. Rank initially had bigger plans for golf, but had to put them on hold in 2011 to fight testicular cancer. But he’s past that, and after taking a job with the NHL — he grew up playing both hockey and golf — Rank got back to playing golf whenever he could.
He even represented Canada at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, and played in the 2016 Canadian Open, where he finished tied for 77th place.
Now, 77th place might seem quite a bit low but WHO CARES THIS DUDE IS A FULL TIME REF AND HE’S ABOUT TO PLAY IN ONE OF THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS GOLF TOURNAMENTS IN THE WORLD WHAT!
Ahem. Sorry about that. Follow your dreams, people! You never know what will happen.