The R&A’s chief executive, Martin Slumbers, has implied that Phil Mickelson’s brain fade at the US Open – where he rushed after his overhit ball on the 13th green which was running into further trouble and hit it back towards the pin – would have led to him being disqualified at the Open rather than picking up the two-shot penalty he incurred at the time.
Slumbers said he had spoken to the left-hander at the Scottish Open last week and the American had admitted Shinnecock Hills was not his “finest hour” but explained that the USGA meted out its penalty under Rule 14-5, which does not have a disqualify option.
“We have looked very carefully at the rules and I don’t think it was good for the game and not the right way to play this wonderful sport,” Slumbers said. “Rule 1-2 says you can’t use 1-2 if you’ve used another rule, so they used 14-5. We understand the USGA and the referee’s decision and completely respect those decisions. But there are other parts of the rule book which refer to etiquette and the powers of the committee and we’re fully aware of those clauses.”
The chief executive also made reference to another American visitor to Scotland, Donald Trump, who after the English leg of his visit took a golf break at his Turnberry property on the west coast last weekend.
Asked if the US president would have been welcome had he expressed an interest in checking out the Open venue on the east coast, Slumbers replied: “Had I been asked I would have been strongly not encouraging him to visit Carnoustie. We were in the middle of a building site last Friday, there were lorries everywhere. It would have been very, very challenging to do so.”
There are no plans to host the Open at Turnberry until 2023 at the earliest. The course last held the event in 2009.
Carnoustie, which last held the Open in 2007, gave centre stage to Gary Player on Wednesday on the 50th anniversary of his triumph at the course. Player, a three-times Open champion, the second of them at Carnoustie in 1968, feels this may be the event where Rickie Fowler breaks his major duck, though he hopes Tiger Woods can get back into the winning circle soon, ideally on Sunday.
“If you get a feeling about somebody winning, mine is Rickie Fowler,” Player said. “He has been very close at majors and he’s played so well last week [tied sixth at the Scottish Open]. He’s in a good frame of mind, he’s a marvellous putter and he hits the ball pretty straight.”
The 82-year-old South African cautioned that he felt virtually anybody in the field could win at Carnoustie because of the browned-out course, which members say has not looked this way since the early 80s, but added: “My big wish would be that Tiger Woods wins because he is responsible for these guys playing for a million every week. Tiger is what’s captured the young people, which we need in this game desperately at the moment. I sincerely hope he plays well.”
