|
Browse by Sport |
|
|
Find us on |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
June 15, 2000
PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA
LES UNGER: We have with us Tom Meeks, he's the Director of Rules and Competition.
Without any further introduction, sir, the mic is yours.
TOM MEEKS: Thank you, Les. Well, obviously, we had what was threatening weather all
day, in reference to the fog. It looked like it was coming in, but it never did. It seemed
to go over towards Cypress, I guess. But at approximately 3:45, I got a call from one of
my officials that Jeff Maggert was not going to play his tee shot on 10 because he
couldn't see where he was trying to hit it. So Fred Ridley, the Chairman of the
Championship Committee and myself were in a cart and went down, and I think Jeff was
playing with Darren Clarke and Freddie Couples. I think Couples had hit. But anyway, in
looking down the 10th fairway, you couldn't see the bunker on the left. And if he would
have hit a tee shot to the right, it would have been hard to see where it crossed the
hazard margin; or if it bounced, it would be hard to see where it bounced in, therefore,
depriving him of a chance of finding the ball. Even though we had several holes that were
playable, particularly 15, 16, 17, and 18, we had some holes that were not playable. And
when we stop play, we have to stop it for everybody, which is what we did. We delayed it
at 3:57. And then at 5:01, we realized that it wasn't getting any better. In fact, it was
getting a little worse. So we arranged for the players to be evacuated through the
evacuation procedure that we have in process this week, with the hope that we might still
get to play, go back out, and get possibly an hour and a half of golf, which would have
been a big hour and a half, I might add. At approximately 6:00 to 6:10 we realized that we
were socked in for the day; and therefore, had to determine our gameplan for completion of
Round 1, as well as any adjustments that we would make in Round 2. The gameplan goes
something like this: We still have 25 groups out. I believe the last group that finished
was the Notah Begay, Steve Pate and Lee Porter, which means we had 27 groups finish and 25
groups still out. They're stacked out, with the final group, the 3:00 group being on the
third tee. We've informed all the players that did not complete Round 1 that the practice
range will be open at 5:00, knowing it's still a little dark, but it's starting to get
there. I think players can actually start hitting balls around 5:15. The range at Pebble
Beach is not quite big enough for the number of players that will want to hit balls, but
we've arranged for Spyglass as an auxiliary practice range, and possibly Poppy Hills, if a
second one is needed. This also requires a great deal of organization with the
transportation people. We're confident that's under control. The players can start hitting
balls around 5:15. I don't know what they normally take -- half hour, 45 minutes. If they
want to do any putting, they will be transported to the practice putting green behind the
first tee. And then at approximately 6:20, vans will start loading the players to take
them back out to where they were when we suspended play. And we hope to resume play at
6:45 for all the players who did not complete Round 1. To balance this out, we have had to
make an adjustment to Round 2 starting times, and Round 2 will start at 8:00. And
ironically, the last group to finish is Pate, Begay, and Porter, will be the first group
off at No. 1 tomorrow at 8:00. All of tomorrow's starting times will be pushed back an
hour and a half. I don't think we're going to have to make any adjustments to that. We
could with our final 3:00 group, which happens to be players 154, 155 and 156. They are
now scheduled to go at 12:10. And I hope that they're done in time with Round 1 to be able
to grab a little something to eat and make this time. If not, we'll make that adjustment
when we need to. The next question probably is: Will we finish Round 2 tomorrow? I don't
think so. I would be very surprised, because we thought with the 3:00 last starting time,
we thought we were looking at probably an 8:15 finish, if we'd have had proper weather. So
therefore, I don't think we're going to get finished with Round 2. And we will therefore
bring the players back and finish Round 2 Saturday morning, and then make the groupings
and starting times once the cut has been made for the 3rd Round, and we'll start it as
soon as we can -- once Round 2 is completed, and we've had a chance to make the groupings
and starting times. Obviously, we had a 5:00 finish for Saturday and Sunday for TV
purposes. It looks like now Saturday's round will not finish at 5:00. I think we would be
very lucky if that happened, but I don't believe, unless we get a low number in the field
and the numbers just happen to work out, but I'd be surprised if we don't have to go
substantially later than 5:00 Saturday to finish the 3rd Round. I think one big question
is: What's the weather forecast for tomorrow? And I've got to tell you, I don't know. I've
heard rumors, even to the fact that the fog tomorrow is supposed to be worse than it was
today. And if that's the case, we'll have to probably -- possibly, come up with a
different gameplan. But I think right now we can only go with positives, and those
positives are what I've outlined for you. If I get here tomorrow morning and we've got
some really unusual weather tomorrow morning, we'll have to put our committee together and
come up with a gameplan. And we haven't even thought about doing that until we see what
we've got tomorrow. I think that pretty well sums it up, ladies and gentlemen. I haven't
talked to any of the players; I don't know what their reaction was. I hope -- we're trying
to do the best we can under the circumstances and the time frame we're working within, and
yet I'm sure that when you do things like this you're always second-guessing a bit. But I
think our gameplan is reasonable; and it could mean, obviously, that some of the players
tomorrow are going to have to play a large number of holes, particularly that last group,
which has 16 holes to finish, Round 1, and could very easily end up playing 18 holes
tomorrow for Round 2. That's too bad. I'm sorry that's going to happen. But that could
happen.
LES UNGER: Can we take questions?
TOM MEEKS: Absolutely. Questions?
Q. With play starting on all 18 holes at 6:45, do you have to change the course
maintenance schedule? Will you be able to prepare the course as well as you wanted to?
TOM MEEKS: Have you seen the Superintendent here? This guy looks like he's just out of
high school. He's a neat guy. He's done a terrific job with his crew. He's out there
mowing fairways right now. That's one way about it; he's mowing the fairways. That's going
to be done. Tees will be done tonight. Greens will be done tomorrow morning. He informs me
that he's got enough time to do greens, and they'll drag the dew off the fairways and
tees. So we'll have a golf course that we can play on at 6:45. That's getting 16 holes
ready. And once he's done there, then we can jump over and start doing his maintenance on
1 and 2 and come in right behind. We'll have to leave the holes where they are on 3
through 18. Tom Moraghan and I will be going around. We've done the holes for tomorrow.
We'll go in at 7:00 with the hole cutter and start cutting the holes for Round 2. We'll
cut 1, and then, of course, cut 2, and set the tee markers. We'll be coming in right
behind the last group that's on the 3 tee. And as soon as they finish 18 for the
completion of their first round, we'll be right behind them cutting the hole for Round 2.
So, the maintenance crew, I can't say enough about. What I was really impressed with this
young man today was how calm he was throughout all this. It's easy for people to maybe
have a little -- with the Murphy's Law, things that sometimes happen, people tend to get a
little uncomfortable. But this young man has been so neat to work with, and I'm very
impressed. He's only, I think, 30 years old, but he's done a terrific job. He's got a
terrific crew, a lot of good help, and the maintenance is in good shape.
Q. So, if they have to go ahead and play, if they don't get done until Saturday
sometime with the second round, will you do the cut right after, as soon as the last
players gets in?
TOM MEEKS: Well, the cut in the U.S. Open is low 60s and ties, and anyone within 10
strokes. We can't make the cut until they're all done. The neat thing about the age of
computers, with Kevin O'Connor who oversees our scoring system here for the U.S. Open,
he'll have me a draft of this groupings and starting times. We'll play in twos, of course,
on Saturday and Sunday. They'll have a draft as soon as that last putt goes in the hole. I
don't wish any player any bad luck, but we could have that last group coming in on
Saturday morning to finish Round 2, and all three players, let's say, are going to shoot
168 -- some number that definitely will not make the cut. If that happens, we can still go
ahead and get our grouping starting times ready, because we know nobody in the last group
is going to make that. Even if two or three players do, he'll still have me a draft within
five minutes after they finish that hole. So we'll work as fast as we can there, and we'll
get started as quick as we can after the second round is over.
Q. Any idea what time that round would start?
TOM MEEKS: It's impossible to answer that question, because I don't know how much time
it's going to take for us to finish Round 2. I'm optimistic that even tomorrow night, with
just a good break on the weather, a reasonable break, that we should have, hopefully, all
the golfers will be -- let's say the last group is on 13 or 14. If that's the case, we
would bring them back out -- I'm going to guess at maybe 7:00 to finish their round on
Saturday morning. If they're on 14, that means they're going to need about an hour and 20
minutes. So 7:00, done by 8:30. We could maybe go as early as 9:00, if we had to.
Q. Did you just say if you have to finish the second round on Saturday that 7:00 would
be the earliest that you would bring the guys back in?
TOM MEEKS: That's an arbitrary figure. It might be that we would at 6:30. We've gone at
6:30 the last two mornings. We could do that.
Q. Is 6:30 the earliest you would go?
TOM MEEKS: I don't think we'd go any earlier than that.
Q. When is the 3rd Round scheduled to start on Saturday?
TOM MEEKS: If we get another delay tomorrow, we're definitely looking at going deep
Saturday.
Q. If there are no delays at all, when would you start the 3rd Round on Saturday?
TOM MEEKS: The question was if we have no delays tomorrow, the last group, I have to
talk with Tommy Roy of NBC Sports, but I would guess maybe the last group on Saturday
would have gone around 1:00 or 1:10, which would be a 5:00 finish for NBC on Pacific time.
And then from that, we have 60 players and ties. If I had 70 players make the cut, that's
35 groups of two; we play at nine-minute intervals. I'd have to back it up from 1:00. You
have to figure out the math with that. I'd guess around an 8:30 start.
Q. If there hadn't been any delays at any point in this tournament, what would the
first tee time have been on Saturday?
TOM MEEKS: I can't tell you that, because you back it up from 1:00. The two leaders go
at 1:00, or approximately 1:00, and if we have 90 players, then we go at 6:30. If we have
70 players -- it depends on the number of players who make the cut.
Q. What is the determining factor whether the course is playable or not? How much
visibility were you guys looking for today to make that call?
TOM MEEKS: The question is how much leeway were we giving the players today? I was
surprised that we didn't get a few players to question us earlier in the day. It was very
close. It was iffy. But the nice thing I think about -- if they could see where they
wanted the shot to land, then I think that was somewhat of our parameter. These guys are
so good, they know the distance to the hole, they know if the flag sits right or left. In
fact, a cute little story: When I went down to see Jeff Maggert, he said, "Tom, I
can't see where I'm hitting my shot here, and I'm going to stop." And I talked with
Fred Ridley, the Chairman, and we agreed to stop. And lo and behold, our official with
Ernie Els, who was in the group ahead, Ernie told the official: "Tell Tom Meeks that
I hit that tee shot, and I had the same view Maggert did." He was having a little fun
with us. But he knew we were close. But I really think our call to stop it when we did was
right. Because although we had five or six holes that were very visible and very playable,
those around 8, 9, and 10 know that it was not fair to make those players play those shots
down there. I think we did the right thing. I think we were right on the money with our
time as far as stopping play.
LES UNGER: Do you want to look at the Friday weather report?
TOM MEEKS: Well, the Superintendent's people here tell me if we had wind today, we'd
have had a chance to get some of this stuff blown out of here. Early a.m. fog becoming
partly sunny and possibly foggy in the afternoon. This is going to come to be known as the
Foggy Open. Weather is something you have to deal with when you're in the golf business. I
tell you we'll do the best we can to finish on Sunday, but if we have to go into Monday,
that's part of the deal. We'll try to get them back on schedule as quickly as we can.
End of FastScripts
.
|
|