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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 18, 2014

HOYLAKE, ENGLAND

MIKE WOODCOCK: Thank you for joining us this evening. We're going to give you an update on the weather situation tomorrow. I'm joined on my far right by David Rickman, the Executive Director of Rules and Equipment Standards at the R&A, and on my immediate right Peter Unsworth, the Chairman of the Championship Committee. So first I'll hand it over to David to give a short statement regarding the weather situation tomorrow.

DAVID RICKMAN: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. On a beautiful evening such as we have today, it's hard to believe the disruptive weather forecast that we have received for tomorrow. The Met Office's onsite forecasters believe that there is a significant risk of thunderstorms and heavy rain, which will interrupt tomorrow's play. This is consistent with the Amber weather warning that's been issued for much of England and Wales. Therefore, we have taken a number of decisions regarding tomorrow's play to maximize the chances of completing the championship on time. These are that play is scheduled now to commence at 9 a.m. Play will be in groups of three, and that we will utilize a two-tee start using the 1st and 10th tees. These measures combined give us the potential to accommodate up to five hours of delay and still complete the third round tomorrow evening. If we are delayed tomorrow morning beyond 9 a.m., we will start as early as we can thereafter. We are now working with all of those involved in staging this championship to make the necessary arrangements to facilitate this revised plan. That is the very brief statement that we have prepared. But obviously we'd be very happy to answer any questions you may have.

Q. When was the last time there was a two-tee start on the third round of the Open?
DAVID RICKMAN: I don't believe we've had one in the history of the Championship.

Q. Given the notoriously unpredictable weather forecast, why do you make this decision, given that they normally get it wrong anyway?
DAVID RICKMAN: To be honest, it's the combination of the Met Office, who provide all of our onsite forecasting, combined with this general weather warning is producing a very consistent message. It seems to be a very big system, which our forecaster has described as a Spanish Plume. That's all I know about this. But it seems to be a very large system that is unlikely to be susceptible to minor movements and, therefore, all the professional advice that we are receiving tells us that significant disruption is highly likely, and it's only responsible of us to react appropriate to that.

Q. What about Sunday's warnings? And have you done any planning for Sunday, as well?
DAVID RICKMAN: We've got quite a bit to do for Saturday, to be honest. We haven't got into that. This plan for tomorrow is about trying to get back on track or stay on track, I should say, so that we're in a good place come Sunday. If the worst happens and we don't achieve that, well, obviously we'll convene another meeting and revise our plans for Sunday, as well. But we haven't gotten into that yet.

Q. Given how tradition is so important to this championship, how seriously did you take the question of the two-tee start? And are you worried that a precedent has now been set that you could asked this question every year, going to two tees, when bad weather moves in?
DAVID RICKMAN: I think it's a question we're not dealing on a regular basis. Certainly there's no suggestion that this is going to be a general change of policy. This is a reaction to the issues that we face for tomorrow. And it should be simply viewed as that. We believe that this policy is consistent with what the players are used to week in, week out, on the major professional tours, and it is appropriate for us to do likewise, thinking that it is in their best interests, is in the best interests of all the spectators we hope will come tomorrow, and the best interests of the television transmission of the championships.

Q. Based on the information you have now, what time are they predicting the bad weather leaderboard in this area?
DAVID RICKMAN: The forecast I've seen is predicting that it will arrive very early in the morning, possibly as early as 2 a.m.

Q. (Inaudible.)
DAVID RICKMAN: The bad weather is forecast to potentially to last through much of the morning with a four-hour window of much improved conditions in the early afternoon, with the possibility of further thunderstorm activity coming in late tomorrow evening.

Q. Was there any consultation over this? On a separate issue, what concerns are there regarding spectator safety?
DAVID RICKMAN: We have not explicitly consulted any players. Obviously we have had to react to the latest weather forecast and we need to make a decision as to how we move forward and then inform people. That is what we are now doing, and your help in passing on this message is much appreciated. We take the welfare of our spectators very seriously, indeed. Certainly those from the UK are now used to receiving these Amber weather warnings, and we would encourage them to take appropriate action. The golfing public are used in the UK to bring clothing to deal with all four seasons in one day, and it sounds as though that's exactly what we are likely to get. Obviously we would be looking to evacuate grandstands and all those normal procedures, but other than that, we will do everything within our power to look after the spectators that hopefully will come here tomorrow.

Q. How much thought did you give to the fact that this championship, more than any other, is the elements are part of what you need to deal with if you're going to win it? So bad weather sort of comes with the territory in a sense.
DAVID RICKMAN: Oh, it certainly does, and if it's just raining hard and windy, and just generally unpleasant, they'll be out there playing. But as soon as we have thunderstorms, I'm afraid we are not playing golf. This is primarily in relation to the thunderstorm activity and obviously if we get extremely heavy rain, we may have a course that is not essentially playable. We're not looking to in any way lessen the challenge that players will experience. I think they're plenty challenged by Hoylake at the moment.

Q. Given the arrangements you're making, how many hours' play actually would it take to complete the third round?
DAVID RICKMAN: We believe the three balls and the two-tee start we need about seven hours' play. If we didn't operate those procedures and went with our traditional two balls, one-tee start, these are quick calculations, based on a field of about 78 players, we think we'd be looking at about ten and a half hours. So we feel that that three-and-a-half-hour difference could be the difference between completing this championship on time and not. And we believe that that should be of paramount importance.

MIKE WOODCOCK: Thank you for joining us everyone.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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