R&A defend decision to start play on Saturday

• R&A defend decision to start play at 7am on Saturday
• Action was suspended at 7.32am due to high winds
• Dawson: “It would’ve been better if play hadn’t started”

The R&A have defended their decision to commence play of the second round of the Open at 7am on Saturday morning – claiming that a wind speed change of 6mph caused balls to begin oscillating on the greens.

After a farcical 32 minutes out on the Old Course, play was suspended for ten-and-a-half hours with gusts of around 40mph battering the town.

Once play resumed at 6pm, the R&A called a press conference for 6.15pm, with chief executive Peter Dawson giving the reasons behind why players went out in the first place.

“Although difficult, we took the view that the course was playable” – Peter Dawson

“Between 6am and 6.45am, we spent a great deal of time out at the far end of the golf course,” Dawson explained. “Traditionally here, if the 11th green works, everything else does, and we putted, marked balls, putted again and not one ball moved.

“Although difficult, we took the view that the course was playable. Very soon after play began, balls did start to move and ended up suspending play. Wind readings show that after 7am, wind speeds increased by about 6mph, which was enough to tip things over the edge. Clearly with the benefit of hindsight, it would’ve been better if play hadn’t started.”

CONTINUES BELOW…

The decision to start play in the first place prompted fury among players once it was suspended, with Jordan Spieth caught saying: “We shouldn’t have been out there in the first place.”

Bubba Watson’s caddie Ted Scott tweeted:

While speaking after completing his second round, Dustin Johnson said: “I don’t usually complain too much, but yeah, I’m sure I said a few things.”

It was also argued that the course was playable had the greens not been so quick, but Dawson soon defended those claims after being asked about whether they had been cut or not.

“The greens were cut at this end of the golf course, out to the 5th and 13th but beyond that they were not,” he explained. “That’s something we do when there are big winds around here because our past experience is always that it’s the far end that’s the problem.

“What happened out there was the wind increased” – Peter Dawson

“I know Louis Oosthuizen’s ball moved on 13 quite considerably, but the previous group that I stood out there and watched had no putting problems at all. What happened out there was the wind increased, and had that wind been as strong at quarter to seven as it was at quarter past seven, we wouldn’t have started.”

The delays have meant that the Open Championship will have its first Monday finish since 1988, when Seve Ballesteros lifted the Claret Jug at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

The Open :: Saturday havoc

What did you make of conditions out there at St Andrews on Saturday? Leave your thoughts in the ‘Comments’ section below.