Players fume at amateur set-up for Open greens

Leading players blasted Australian Open officials for ignoring warnings that the greens were too fast for the conditions.

Even tournament leader Stuart Appleby, who somehow repeated his opening 66 to open up a huge gap on the field, was dismayed that the second round was suspended for 5-1/2 hours when a 60km/h southerly buster made the NSW GC greens unplayable.

“The powers that be didn’t get it right,” Appleby said bluntly.

“It unfortunately seems to be an Australian Open tradition.”

It is the third time in eight years that the national championship has been disrupted by unplayable greens, following similar episodes in 2002 and 2005.

None suffered more than Brett Rumford. His tee-shot at the short second settled within birdie range and he walked off with a quintuple-bogey eight.

As Rumford prepared to putt a gust of wind blew his ball off the green. After consulting two rules officials Rumford decided to chip it back on, from where he three-putted.

He was subsequently penalised one shot for addressing a moving ball and two more for not replacing it.

He shot 78.

Appleby was relieved he escaped such bad breaks. “But some guys got screwed by it. I don’t know if that’s a technical term but that’s pretty much how the players felt about it.”

Australia’s top-ranked player Geoff Ogilvy was among those who told tournament director Trevor Herden earlier in the week that the greens were too slick for the exposed and notoriously difficult layout at the northern entrance to Botany Bay.

Fuelling the players’ frustration is the fact that, unlike other professional tournaments, the national open is run by Golf Australia, not the PGA.

“It’s our most prestigious tournament and is showcased around the world. How does it make us look?” said tour veteran Peter Senior, who is also deputy chairman of the Australian PGA.

“What’s irritating me now is the amount of calls I’m getting saying that the PGA has stuffed up,” Senior told AAP.

“The PGA’s got nothing to do with this tournament. This is run by Golf Australia, the amateur body.

“They’ve got to start learning to set courses up for the conditions and what could happen, not what may happen.

“Trevor Herden is a very well-respected official, I’ve got a lot of respect for Trev, but there comes a time when these guys will have to put their hand up and say `we probably need to take a bit more advice’.”

Herden denied the greens had been cut too low.

“(The players) may think that but we’ve done everything to protect those greens,” he told reporters.

He said green staff took on board Ogilvy’s suggestions and slowed the most exposed greens at holes two, six, 13 and 14. They were also watered overnight.

“We backed off considerably. We did not roll those greens. We didn’t cut those greens overnight like others were.

“We’ve done all we can to protect those three or four greens.”

Senior said the Australian Open’s reputation was making it difficult to attract leading players from overseas, but holds out little hope that things will change.

“Players don’t come down because they’ve experienced something like this.

“We’d like to work much closer with Golf Australia but they refuse to allow us to.

“I think they’ll still want to do what they want to do.”

© 2010 AAP