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TSN Senior Reporter

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TUCKAHOE, N.Y. – Garrett Rank remembers the first time his worlds collided. Early in his NHL career, he was refereeing a game in which he’d made some tough calls. At least one player wasn’t impressed and he approached one of the linesmen to chat.

“Who’s the new guy?” the player asked.

“Garrett Rank. He’s a hell of a golfer, won some big championships,” the linesman responded.

The player was quick to fire back: “Tell him to keep practising his putting then ’cause he’s a lousy ref.”

Rank did keep practising his putting as well as the rest of his game and it’s been good enough for the 30-year-old amateur to make it to the U.S. Open this week at Shinnecock Hills. While his golf is impressive, his fulltime occupation is giving him lots of notoriety here.

“I’ve got a real job,” said Rank, who called 72 games this past season, “so I consider this the pinnacle of my golf career.”

So much in demand was Rank here that the United States Golf Association brought him into the media room on Monday to meet with the scribes, a trip usually reserved for the likes of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. The inquisitive group asked him about everything from how he keeps his game sharp in hockey season to whether he’d every teed it up with any New York Ranger or Islander players.

On that latter topic, he related the story of playing with former Islander Travis Hamonic.

“I played in a kind of charity event in his group in Winnipeg a couple of years ago and ended up shooting 58 that day,” Rank said. “He uninvited me back to the tournament one day on the ice when I made a bad call and he wasn’t happy with me. He revoked my invitation.”

Like most Canadian kids, Rank hoped he’d be in the NHL as a player. Growing up in Elmira, Ont., he was a high-calibre forward but not good enough to be drafted. Still, he kept hoping he’d find a way to the NHL. But that ended in 2011 when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.

Undaunted, Rank made the switch to officiating and progressed. He quickly moved up, reaching the Ontario Hockey League and catching the eyes of the NHL.

While his officiating was burgeoning, so was his golf. Rank played well enough to earn a spot on the Canadian national team and play for Canada at the World Amateur Team Championship. He captured several Canadian Mid-Ams and played in the RBC Canadian Open.

And his golf was so good that it made the NHL take notice for a different reason.

“I think it kind of forced the NHL’s hand with my golf abilities,” said Rank. “I think they looked at me and said, hey, we like this kid. We think he’s good but there’s a chance that he’d going to try and go play golf for a living. So I think I got into the NHL a few years earlier than I expected.”

His chosen profession allows him the luxury of playing golf most of the summer and he takes advantage, teeing it up in most of the top amateur events in the U.S. and Canada. He does manage a handful of games when his work takes him to the warmer parts of the U.S. but it usually means playing with rental clubs.

He admitted to only one occasion where golf and hockey overlapped. Two years ago, he played in the USGA’s Four-Ball championship at Winged Foot, teeing it up in the morning and then driving three-and-a-half hours to Hershy, Pa., for a Calder Cup final-round game. He drove back to Winged Foot after the hockey game.

“My reffing gear was still wet, and I needed to dry it out for the game the following weekend,” Rank admitted, “so I aired it out underneath my car in the parking lot of the Winged Foot Golf Club.”

Just making it to the U.S. Open is a dream come true for Rank. As a cancer survivor, of course, every day is good day. He did admit, however, that his opening tee shot on Thursday will likely be the most nervous swing of his life. But he has set some goals and hopes to be around for the weekend.

Whatever happens, he’ll no doubt hear about it one way or another when he gets back on the ice.