Wind blows players away at The Open
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The R&A has come under fire over their attempt to start play at 7am and finish the delayed 2nd round.
Several of the players believe that play shouldn’t have started owing to high winds which caused balls to move on the greens.
A baffled Lee Westwood (-3 with three 2nd round holes left) said:”It was a bit of strange decision – they seemed to stop play out on no.11 and allowed the rest of us to carry on playing.”
After about 30 minutes, the R&A decided enough was enough and decided to suspend play. And that’s how it has stayed ever since and with the winds presently threatening to dismantle the huge Media Centre complex, is likely to be the case for a while yet.
The R&A will provide updates every hour and not resume play until “there is a material reduction in wind speed.” With hourly weather forecasts nearly identical for the foreseeable future, this could take a while.
The weather is really sinking its teeth into The Open with yesterday’s 2nd round being delayed by over three hours following heavy overnight rain which prompted a massive mop-up operation by the greenkeeping staff.
Overnight leader Dustin Johnson and Grand Slam-chasing Jordan Spieth are among those still gnashing their teeth after their short-but-not-very-sweet early morning visit to the Old Course – both three putted the 14th and suffered bogeys.
They were relieved when being informed on the 15th green that play would be stopped, and one of them claimed that they “shouldn’t have even started” in the first place.
The R&A defended their decision.”We spent an hour at the far end of the course, before play started, assessing whether the course was playable. Balls were not moving on the greens and while the conditions were extremely difficult, we considered the golf course to be playable.
“Gusts of wind increased in speed by 10-15% after play resumed this morning. This could not be foreseen at the time that play was restarted and made a material difference to the playability of the golf course. We will make an announcement on when play is likely to restart in due course.”
It’s a terribly frustrating period for the organisers, players and fans alike but with the howling wind consistently staying above 30mph on the course, it’s not looking promising at the moment.
It’s a real dilemma and it’s looking increasingly likely that this Open will be decided on Monday though the one bright ray of sunshine is that the winds are due to drop by mid-afternoon
One thing is for sure: after what happened first thing this morning, the R&A won’t want to rush back onto the course until the winds have died down. Hang on to your hats!
