Flashback Reads: Another Play Stoppage At A St Andrews Major

As we wait out a wind delay at the Old Course, where golf can no longer be played on a traditional gusty day due to modern green speeds, it's worth going back to read about the last two major championship delays here.

(Paul Newberry's AP story posted at GolfDigest.com is updating as news warrants, while Ian Poulter's updates are more entertaining).

Play was suspended at the 2013 Ricoh Women’s British Open when winds gusted to 38 miles per hour where "balls were moving on the greens, with the 10th green particularly affected." You can check out the post here that includes reporting from Alistair Tait on the green speeds then:

The LGU had already prepared for the strong winds by not cutting the greens as close as the previous day. “The 11th green wasn’t cut,” she said. “The greens were 9.4 on the stimpmeter as opposed to 10 the day before. They were really quite sticky.”

At the 2010 Open when play was suspended just as Tiger was to tee off, players vented that there was a Tiger-bias in the decision. From Lawrence Donegan's Guardian report:

The world No1 had not completed the first hole before he and his playing  partners were shepherded back to the clubhouse. Play restarted just over an hour later despite, according to several players, little apparent improvement in the conditions. Andrew Coltart, who was on the 6th when he and his playing partners were hauled off, said the delay had been "pointless".

With winds gusting up to 40mph, making it almost impossible to putt  on the more exposed of the Old Course's greens, the decision was taken to suspend play, provoking strong dissent among the players. Some argued the move had come too late, others suggested it was unnecessary and one, Martin Kaymer, hinted there may have been other motives. "Zach Johnson and myself had asked officials to stop play earlier," the German said. "On the 12th and 13th greens the ball was moving for us. Maybe they were protecting the better ones who were playing later.”

Jason Dufner, then just an emerging talent, had to take to an internet message board after he complained about what turned out to be a dodgy situation.

Most of the other observations then suggest why we are in for a cautious approach today: the conditions were not discernably different from the time of the delay to the restart. A couple of posts here and here with my comments and links to other stories.

And finally, we have R&A Chief Inspector Peter Dawson's recent remarks to Scotland on Sunday's John Huggan where he said the rebuilt 11th green could withstand windy championship days like this one.

“This is the only change we have made in order to get more pin positions. Some might say we could just have slowed the green – you for example – but I am of the philosophy that if the players are enjoying the course we will have a good Open and if they are not, we  don’t. This green would have to run at six or seven on the Stimpmeter to make it work as it was before. I think that might have attracted some hostile reaction from players and media.

“What we have now is a green that will still be puttable in a high wind, which it wasn’t before."