I had a brain freeze! But did it ruin someone’s Open chances?

Rules officials call it a brain freeze. You race over in your buggy, a simple problem is in front of you, but your mind goes completely blank.

You’re told when you’re studying not to worry. It happens to everyone. It’s how you deal with it that counts. Now it’s happened to me – and at Regional Open Qualifying to boot!

I got to the bunker close to the 1st green at Goswick and the player was just pointing at a massive hole right below the face.

I don’t know what had been digging but it was done with some urgency. The hole looked like it could have gone to the centre of the earth.

It was the sand it had turfed up, though, that caused the problem. This player’s ball was just behind that mound in the bunker.

This is basic stuff. It’s an animal hole. It’s an abnormal course condition. The area that’s pushed up was part of that and the player could take free relief if it was interfering, in this case, with their area of intended swing.

I’m not sure what it was – maybe it was because the ball was in the bunker, maybe it was the player asking me if he could place rather than drop it – but I went to the part of my internal cabinet that’s filed this stuff away and the drawer was firmly locked.

I had nothing.

The player was now looking at me as if he was about to have a major operation and just been told a first-year student was the one scrubbing up.

It’s at times like this you’ve just got to swallow your pride. Resist the temptation to guess. Don’t go in two footed.

Avoid blurting out something you’re going to regret when you’re later trying to explain why you’ve made a massive error.

So I got on the radio and asked. About an animal hole. Something nearly all of us would just sort out without thinking. It was nearest point of complete relief in the bunker, drop, and one club length for any of you struggling as I did.

He didn’t take relief, as it happened. The player was a bit worried the ball would plug in the sand if he dropped it and he could get to the ball even if his follow through would hit the mound.

Although it caused me a modicum of embarrassment, it did have one beneficial effect: we were able to fix the hole before someone else’s ball found its way into it.

The moral of the story – yes, there is one – is just make sure you get it right. There’s no shame in getting a second opinion. Even if I did feel like a bit of a berk for a moment.

But this little drama was only part of a very eventual day as more than 130 players at Goswick tried to book one of the seven spots available at Final Open Qualifying for the 152nd Open at Royal Troon.

So let’s have a review…

Open qualifying: Can you share a rangefinder?

Apart from a ball on a path where we were basically measuring out footsteps to find the nearest point of complete relief (this is why I was supposed to pack a tape measure!), this was the most unusual request of the day.  

The battery in a player’s rangefinder had died up the 3rd hole and he was asking me if he could share a laser with another in the group.

His dad had hot-footed back to the pro shop but he was unsure whether they would stock any batteries.

They’d just got a delivery load in, actually, so the day was saved but the question still remained. Can you? You can’t borrow another player’s club, so can you relieve them of their DMD?

You can. Not only can they give you the yardage, they can hand over their rangefinder and get you to do the job yourself.

I imagine there could be a situation where if you’re pacing 200 yards back and forth to get the laser you might be a candidate for unreasonably delaying play.

But we can all show a bit of common sense, can’t we?

Pace of play

I had to give out official warnings. That was new. I’ve tended to be used as a spot referee – give rulings where required and help with ball searches.

Here I was fully part of the pace of play policy for the first time and it was a definite eye opener how much time it dominates the job of a rules official on site.

At Regional Open Qualifying, it’s basically what you’re there for. The Open’s Pace of Play policy covers two sides of card. I’m not going to cover every cough and spit here but, in essence, players have a time to complete holes and complete their round.

For the latter, it was four hours eight minutes at Goswick. Individual hole times depend on a couple of factors, the most obvious being the length. A par 5 clearly takes longer for a threeball to complete than a par 3.

If 4:08 feels a bit optimistic, especially given the beautiful, but brutal, nature of Goswick’s rough, then it’s important to say there are obvious caveats. I’ve never seen any official handing out penalties for a group that’s a few minutes behind time on the 17th hole.  

But it becomes problematic when groups start to get significantly away from their time. They can back up the rest of the course, and we’ve all had enough competition rounds where you’re waiting on every shot to know how frustrating that is.

When you’ve got 130-odd players, you’ve just got to keep everyone moving, and that means keeping a firm grip on the pace of play of each group.

I’d never really understood how labour intensive this is for officials. Firstly, you’re monitoring times at various hole points and reporting in on how groups that might be struggling are doing against time.

I had a five-hole station, taking in the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 8th and 9th greens, and it was pretty hard work trying to keep eyes on that many holes, recording times, and notifying where groups are getting behind on the clock, while also giving rulings. You do one thing and you’ve lost the focus on another.

Then you’ve got to encourage those faltering groups to get back into position, or make up some time, and you’ve got to get tougher with those who aren’t getting the message.

I didn’t have to give any bad times – though there were a couple issued – but I did have to deliver a couple of official warnings.

I don’t have an issue dealing with players. The rules are pretty clear and most know what is coming when they’ve dropped behind and haven’t yet rallied.

But it did also make me wonder if England Golf’s new checkpoint policy, should it prove a success, might be a way of helping pace of play while giving rules officials more time to be referees.

Time will tell.

A 12-man playoff!

It was inevitable and it was a monster. There were seven spots on offer for Final Open Qualifying. Jack Doherty’s four-under 68, which was a proper effort in the conditions, and Ross Munro’s 70 grabbed the first two.

That left 12 players all on 71 fighting it out in a playoff for the five remaining berths. You can look up the results, but you might not realise the logistical effort in organising and running a 12-person playoff.

You need to get the players together – some of whom finished hours earlier – conduct a draw, and then get them back onto the course.

It was initially three groups of four. Each plays the hole and then waits for the other groups to finish before seeing who’s through, who’s dropped out, and who carries on.

Each group has a referee with spotters and an observer (that would be me) on hand to locate shots and alert the walking officials to any ruling they might have to make.

We're actually in some danger of running out of light here. Three remain for two spots and we're going to the 5th playoff hole. pic.twitter.com/Txwx1tQgez

— Steve Carroll (@SteveCarroll77) June 24, 2024

The playoff was originally scheduled for three holes: 10th, 17th and 18th. But it took five holes until it was all wrapped up.

That was almost two hours. With the light fading, the final three still hunting the last two spots ended up being buggied back to the 18th to maximise the time available.

It didn’t quite get to the stage of car headlights on the green – you’ll know what I mean if you’ve seen The Legend of Bagger Vance – but it wasn’t far off.

After such an eventful day, it couldn’t have been any other way! Who knows what Final Qualifying will bring?

Now have your say on Open qualifying

Did you keep an eye on Open qualifying? What do you make of the first stage? Let me know by leaving a comment on X.

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