The Open to finish on Monday
Last updated:
The waiting goes on… but at least at last there is some positive news to come from St Andrews.
And that is that the 2nd round should finally resume around 4pm provided the high winds have, as expected, dropped.
That, in turn, then means that the 3rd round will be played tomorrow with the final round set for a Monday finale – the first since Seve Ballesteros won at Royal Lytham in 1988.
Clearly the R&A have thought long and hard about the situation and believe that this is the best, and realistically, only possible outcome. Equally clearly they don’t want to see a repeat of this morning’s complete farce and ill-fated attempt to finish the 2nd round.
It was a gamble that backfired with balls moving all over the place on the greens and they don’t want to make the same mistake again.
They always say that the wind is a key contributing factor which makes links courses so special and challenging. Howling gales, currently blowing through the Home of Golf and disrupting the 144th Open, make it mission unfair. And impossible.
At lunchtime the hatches were still being battoned down and the weather forecasts indicated there was no chance of a resumption in play before 3pm.
The pressure is now well and truly on and the wind factor has thrown the destiny of The Open right up in the air.
It’s a difficult time for the players who will be chomping at the bit to get on with matters whether to challenge at the top of the leaderboard or simply survive the cut. Like the wind, patience has always been a critical factor in links golf. And none more so than right now.
