THE OPEN: ‘R&A was a disgrace’ – Hend

BY BRENDAN JAMES AT ST ANDREWS

Journeyman pro Scott Hend has launched a scathing attack on the R&A in the wake of the 11-hour suspension of play at The Open Championship, saying the decision to send players out in high winds in the morning “was an absolute disgrace” and cost him a chance of making the cut.

Hend, who has wins on the European, Australasian and Asian Tours, said protests to an R&A appointed rules official that conditions were unplayable were ignored and his group was instructed to keep playing. If they stopped or walked off, they were told, they would be disqualified from the Championship.

“The R&A was an absolute disgrace this morning deciding to put us out there in the wind,” Hend said.

“They want to come out with a diatribe that the wind picked up 10-15 per cent once they blew the horn, but that’s absolutely ridiculous. We were out there and told them it was no good.

"I make double bogey on the one hole that I play and I miss the cut by two shots.

“They knew well and truly that the course was unplayable – this is a course they’re at all the time and know what happens.

Scott Hend says he protested that the conditions were unplayable but was instructed to keep playing or be disqualified.
PHOTO: Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images.

“There was no chance we were going to be able to play properly this morning and it’s very disappointing that a governing body in charge of golf can make that decision.

“It was just ridiculous and makes a mockery of the game.”

When second round play resumed at 7am Saturday (local time), Hend was on the 7^th hole having hit his approach into the green in darkness on Friday night. He was left with a long-range birdie putt first up in the morning.

“We were on 7 green (when we resumed),” Hend said. “I had a putt for birdie and we looked over and Brooks Koepka was having difficulties keeping his ball still on the 11th green. I just tapped my putt from 30 feet and it ran all the way to the hole.

“We walked to the 8^th tee and said this is just not right – we watched them on the 11th green and it took them 31 minutes to make a decision to call it off.

“While that was happening there were four groups on the 11th tee, so we should have been told either to stop play or hold position immediately. Then they go and mow 13 to 18 and not the other greens, so they’re changing the playing condition of the golf course for starters.

“There’s no way we should be playing, not a chance in hell.”

The Queenslander had every right to be angry with the R&A as he and 42 other players were forced to compete in winds that were blowing steadily at 40km an hour but gusting up to 65km an hour when balls were oscillating and moving on the exposed 11^th green.

“We kept saying to our rules guy that this is not fair and we shouldn’t be playing. We get to the 9th tee and he finally said to us, `Hold up fellas, there’s going to be a back-up on the 10th tee, so we stood and waited, he got a message from his boss in charge of the rules who said something like `Why is your group not playing nine, make ‘em hit’.

“It was an absolute shambles and didn’t seem like anyone knew what was going on – it was very unprofessional.”

The fact that he double bogied the par-3 8^th hole in those conditions and missed the cut by two strokes just added fuel to the fire.

“My ball landed on the front of the green and ran all the way to the back of the green. I had a chip on the side of the green, and the wind blew and it blew my ball all the way off the green down on to the 9th tee,” Hend said.

“It’s just ridiculous. We know as professional golfers what’s playable and what isn’t – we play around here in the Dunhill, so we know when it’s playable and when it’s not – and that just wasn’t. Clearly.

“We should never have been out there.

"It goes to show that we then sat in the clubhouse all day and now it’s perfect, but my Open is gone … because of that.

“Then again, they’re sitting in there sipping whiskey and smoking cigars and there’s never going to be an admission that they’re wrong. They’re never wrong.

“And I’m done, finished.”

Paul Lawrie talks with a rules official on the 13th green as play is suspended due to high winds.
PHOTO: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images.

There was plenty of discussion on social media and among the press covering this Championship that the green speeds were set too high by the R&A when they knew high winds were coming. But Hend disagreed, it was simply too windy.

“It’s not a matter of green speeds, it’s just the wind,” Hend said. “The wind was fine if it stayed at 20 (miles an hour), but it was gusting up into the 40s and every time you got one, the ball went boom and went.

“I asked the rules official and they said it’s fine if the ball is oscillating, but it’s oscillating because it’s sitting down in the green and no problems. But when you hit your putt, just tap it and the wind blows it 40 feet past the hole … they still say it’s not a problem.

“We say is that fair to the guys going out there now and they say if you don’t play you’re disqualified. Your choice is you walk in or you play. You can’t say you’re not going to play, so they’ve got you on a tight rope.

“It was the same last night. They made us play in the dark and we couldn’t read the greens for the last two holes and they said, `Keep going, keep going’.

“I understand they wanted one of the greats (Tom Watson) to finish, but we shouldn’t have been playing. Seriously, we shouldn’t have been playing last night in the dark and then we shouldn’t have been playing today in the wind.

“Of course I’m going to be pissed off. I’ve only missed the cut by two shots and I played pretty well.”

Adding to the 42-year-old disappointment is this could have been his last Open Championship, depending on his form moving forward.

“Who knows when I’m gonna play another Open?” he shrugged. “I’ll play another one, but they’ll probably stuff that one up, too.

“It’s a series of bad and mismanaged decisions by the people who supposedly should be making proper decisions.”