Adverse weather caused a postponement at the 144th Open Championship for the second successive day, but it was high winds which affected the resumption of the second round.
A three-hour delay for heavy rain on Friday meant 42 players – including leader Dustin Johnson and calendar year grand slam-chaser Jordan Spieth – returned at 7am to finish off.
But, with gusts up to 45mph, there was an obvious immediate problem, particularly on exposed parts of the course like the 11th green. And it was evident the wind was having a major effect when Johnson returned to where he had left his ball in front of the 14th green.
He chunked his chip but, somewhat naively, he was slow to get to it and, just as he went to place his marker behind the ball, the wind blew it back off the green, resulting in a bogey to drop him back to nine under and tied with Yorkshire’s Danny Willett, who finished his round on Friday.
Playing partner Spieth left his birdie putt short at the same hole and took an angry full swing with his putter before offering up a few choice words.
Television cameras then picked up this year’s Masters and US Open champion saying: “We should never have started.” Australian Jason Day three-putted from 50 feet at the 13th to drop back to six under.
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The group at the 11th had the most difficulty and were unable to even attempt a putt because the balls were moving so much, causing a back-up on the tee behind them, and it prompted RA officials to confer and eventually suspend play at 7.32am.
American Brendon Todd, who started at the 16th and opted to finish his round as he was on the 18th when play was called off, was highly critical of the decision to send players out in the first place.
“It was brutal out there,” he told ESPN.
“They (RA officials) had balls moving on the green before play so they knew this was going to happen but they started any way and so obviously it was an error.
“If they are going to call play off, why did we start? I don’t like when they make a bad decision to play in the first place. “You are standing over a putt wondering whether the ball is going to roll under your putter.
“In my opinion, we shouldn’t have resumed. They needed to wait to be certain balls were not rolling on the greens and until that point we should not have started.”
With the wind not expected to die down significantly until early afternoon, there was a chance of a longer delay than Friday.
Every R & A official in player dining is getting yelled at. Lots of players pissed in here. #GaleForceWinds #StAndrews I love this place!!
— ted scott (@jtedscott) July 18, 2015
Todd, who finished on even par to just make the cut, added: “I don’t see how they can start play again until that point. “It means guys finishing their rounds late and playing late in the day, probably up to 10pm again”
Similar problems affected the 11th green when the Open was last held on the Old Course in 2010, but RA chief executive Peter Dawson insisted earlier this month it had made alterations, essentially softening the slope on the green, to reduce the likelihood of that happening again.
“What we have now is a green that will still be puttable in a high wind, which it wasn’t before,” he told Scotland on Sunday.
“It was this green that caused the suspension of play back in 2010.” With players called off the course, there was much venting of frustration.
Bit of a strange decision here @TheOpen . They seemed to stop play out on 11 and allowed the rest of us to carry on playing.
— Lee Westwood (@WestwoodLee) July 18, 2015
The RA has defended its decision to start play on the third day of the 144th Open Championship despite criticism from players after high winds forced a suspension 32 minutes later.
Spieth was one of the players out in winds gusting up to 45mph and although his five-under score was not adversely affected unlike some others he did not agree with the decision to resume.
So I woke up for early breakfast & a little #OpenChampionship only to find out they’re not playing until winds die down. Going back to bed
— Dominic Chu (@TheDomino) July 18, 2015
“We should never have started,” television cameras picked up him saying as players were called off the course.
However, organisers insist they took possible steps to assess the conditions and it was only after play started conditions deteriorated. “We spent an hour at the far end of the course, before play started, assessing whether the course was playable,” an RA spokesman said.
“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 to 15 per cent after play resumed. 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.”
The more exposed parts of the course – particularly the 11th green – were most affected with the group of Brooks Koepka, John Senden and Tadahiro Takayama unable to even attempt a putt because the balls were moving so much, causing a back-up on the tee behind them.
But problems were evident elsewhere with overnight leader Dustin Johnson, resuming at 10 under, falling foul of the conditions.
On returning where he had left his ball in front of the par-five 14th green he chunked a chip and, somewhat naively, was slow to walk to where it had finished and just as he went to place his marker behind the ball the wind blew it back off the green, resulting in a bogey.
That dropped him back to nine under and tied with Yorkshire’s Danny Willett, who finished his round on Friday.
