Sep 18, 2005 By Josh Krysak 5 min read

FARMINGTON – Tom Baxter is always moving. The tournament director for Nemacolin Woodlands Resort & Spa’s 84 Lumber Classic never stops during tournament week, just a blur on a golf cart whipping across Mystic Rock golf course.

And the Gibbon Glade resident wouldn’t want it any other way.

“All I do is put out fires, some small, some big and lots I just defer,” Baxter says during the opening day of the tournament Thursday.

At 11 a.m. Baxter pulls his cart onto the sidewalk outside Falling Rock, pulls a stack of folders from the cart’s basket, and strides into the caddie’s area, his eyes catching everyone; assessing, reviewing.

“How is it going?”

“You alright?”

“Any problems?”

Baxter is always watching and fixing.

A white extended-cab Ford pickup is parked just outside the entrance to the building.

“What is that truck doing here,” Baxter says to no one in particular. “That just infuriates me.”

He pulls his vibrating cell phone from his belt.

“Hello. It’s Tom,” he says.

Everyone stops Baxter for questions on everything from the good opening day weather to a lack of lanyards.

He organizes ticket punching. He talks with officials about security breaches at several spots along the course. He discusses the installation of a bike rack.

Baxter laughs about the business of the week with a caddie and makes a promise.

“We are going to have drinks after everything calms down,” Baxter says.

Walking up the stairs into the clubhouse, Baxter again is concerned with the security.

“There should be a guard right here,” Baxter says, gesturing to the steps. “Anyone could just walk in here.”

Going up the stairs, Baxter sidesteps David Toms strolling down the stairs.

“David,” Baxter drawls. “Good luck out there.”

“Thanks, Tom,” Toms says.

Once inside the stylish clubhouse, Baxter moves casually among the world’s best golfers, talking to the pros as if they were best friends.

He drops off thank you letters to be put in each locker and then stops momentarily to say hello to 2004 tournament champion, Vijay Singh, who is busy polishing off his lunch plate and marking the Titleist ProV1 golf balls he will use in Thursday’s round.

“Vijay,” Baxter says, leaning over the lanky Fijian’s table.

“What’s up my man,” Singh says, extending his fist, which Baxter lightly taps in a gesture of brotherhood.

The two then discuss the weather.

“That’s what I do now,” Baxter says afterward, commenting on the exchange. “Throughout the year, I go out to other events and talk with the players, just talk to them. You know, just be friends with them, be nice to them. That is how we are bettering the field.”

Baxter’s radio chirps about a problem with a drop rope.

He quickly dispatches an official to look into the problem.

He says he never imagined he would be schmoozing with the greatest golfers in the world when Joe Hardy named him tournament director three years ago.

“I never thought anything like this,” Baxter says, wheeling his cart down the roadway toward the tournament office to retrieve some extra Classic flags the players will sign for charity. “But the Hardys, they have fantastic dreams and ones that they make come true. I mean the players love it here, with all the amenities. They think that the course could host a major championship someday.

“I mean I’m talking to Tim Herron, Freddie Couples, Tom Pernice and I am just a regular guy from a small community with a population of about 26.”

Baxter strides into the tournament office, answering questions from other tournament officials as he heads for his office.

He has more than 1,500 volunteers and employees working for him during the tournament, which expects to host more than 200,000 spectators for 144 of the world’s top golfers.

“Marqueta,” Baxter bellows as he heads for his office.

“He is a good boss,” Hopwood native Marqueta Ryan says, as Baxter disappears down a hallway. “He communicates with the staff and keeps everyone in the loop.”

A new crisis arises. Baxter has some jelly filing from a doughnut on the front of his white mock turtleneck.

“I need a shirt,” he announces. One of the women in the office jumps up and rummages through new 84 polos for Baxter.

“This is a great group of women in here,” Baxter says, changing his shirt like Clark Kent. “They are all my moms.”

Baxter is busy at the course from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day during tournament week and said that adrenaline gets him through until post-tournament exhaustion sets in late Sunday.

After the wardrobe change, Baxter coordinates a meet and greet of local Ford dealers with Phil Mickelson and trying to quell concerns from ESPN about the 17th hole, which has been designated the party hole.

Then it is off to the clubhouse but not before hearing about trouble with a fan along the course by radio.

“Every fire is put out one at a time,” Baxter says. “But they all get put out.”