Play It Again, Boys: The R&A's Balls-Up

Filed in archive Golf News on July 3, 2007

Graeme McDowell Qualifies: Courtesy, Getty Images

We heard it at The Masters; we heard it at Oakmont.

The pros were riled up about tough pin placements. But the organizers at both fine tournaments didn't back down (okay, they watered the greens down a little).

Tough pin placements were meant to test the mettle of the professional golfers vying to win a major.

So it's a rare day, indeed ("some Tuesday in Septober", as my Dad used to say), when organizers admit they were wrong about pin placements.

It happened this past Monday during the final round of international qualifying for the British Open.

The qualifying took place at Sunningdale and 8 golfers attempting to qualify for Carnoustie in a couple of weeks actually had to play 19 holes rather than 18.

The problem was with the pin placement on the 156 yard, par 3 fourth hole. Apparently, golfers who missed very short putts were stunned as their balls would roll off the green, leaving them guaranteed 3-putts coming back.

An R&A observer was shocked at what he saw and raised the alarm. The pin position was moved from one side of the green to the other and 8 players were told to replay the hole, their 19th.

Some of the golfers had birdied the first time and failed to repeat that feat the second time around.

Needless to say, they were not happy golfers. But, as the R&A explained, any change to the pin position needed to be made for ALL the golfers, not just the ones coming up to the hole in later pairings.

An odd situation, for sure. And one the R&A probably handled very well. In fact, PR professionals will hail the R&A as an example of how to deal with a public relations crisis smoothly, starting with fessing up and going from there.

You can read the whole report from the daily telegraph here.