High winds halt second round of British Open play early Saturday morning
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – The wind, as ever, ruled the day in Scotland.
Just 32 minutes after restarting Round 2 — which had already been delayed three hours on Friday because of rain — officials at the British Open halted play, citing unplayable conditions. They were right: players saw balls roll across greens untouched and shots fly in unpredictable patterns. Leader Dustin Johnson dropped a stroke almost immediately to fall back into a tie with Danny Willett, who’d already completed his round.
Players seethed as they left the course. “Should never have started,” Spieth said. Bubba Watson’s caddy Ted Scott described the scene once players returned to the clubhouse:
In response to growing concerns and criticisms, the R&A issued a swift statement: “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 could not be foreseen at the time that play was restarted and made a material difference to the playability of the golf course.”
Here’s a clip of the wind from behind the R&A Clubhouse and the first tee/18th green:
Current forecasts call for the wind to continue through the morning and not abate until early afternoon. With some players from the second round still on the ninth hole, this could take awhile.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter.
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