Ishwar Achanta, who has refereed at The Open and is writing special columns for golfingindian.com from St Andrews
In 1974 all of 8 years old, I was handed a cut down 2 iron by my late father and I have never looked back since. Till he passed on, he kept telling me that he never imagined that this simple act would one day see his little boy walk on Golf’s hallowed turf as a Referee! Thank you Dad, for introducing this glorious game to me!
I qualified at the R&A’s 2002 School and my first international event was at the 2002 Australian Open (the 2nd oldest professional event, worldwide) in Melbourne. I have had a fabulous time traipsing around the world, officiating at various tournaments.
The Old Course at St.Andrews, in 2005, was the perfect place to make my Open debut. While, Troon or Muirfield or Carnoustie are great courses, they may not have been as grand a place for my debut. It was an emotional privilege, to watch from 50 yards away, Jack Nicklaus and his walk up the 18th for the last time and his moments on the Swilcan Burn.
I am truly grateful to have refereed at The Open, an experience one can never buy
It was at the Rules briefing at the Physics lecture room of the St.Andrews University, surrounded by the 50 odd luminaries of the golf referees world, that I realized the magnitude of my achievement, of being the very first Indian referee at The Open! When Martin Kippax, Chairman of the R&A’s Championship Committee asked us, 8 rookies, to introduce ourselves, it was a uniquely proud moment for me to announce that I was from India.
While the duty roster was being drawn up, I happened to wander into the office of David Rickman (R&A Director of Rules and Equipment Standards). When he heard that I was the only Indian at the event and that Daniel Chopra, though a Swedish national was of Indian origin, he assigned me to his group for Day 1.Daniel is a lovely chap and carries his Indian origins very well. He was very warm and happy to see someone from India, officiate at this, the highest level of golf.
We teed off at 3.47 PM, and while walking down the 1st hole, to my pleasant surprise, were 4 of my mates from Chennai, cheering me on. The presence of HR Srinivasan, Ravi Katari, R.Muthu and TT Jaggu filled me with confidence and I was deeply gratified for their support.
A decade at The Open And Other Special Memories
A minute later, I saw Bo Van Pelt signalling for me and I scurried over to find that his stance was on a sprinkler head. Believe me when I tell you that my sigh of relief could have been heard back home, as the very first decision to make was a simple one.
Day 2 saw me assigned to Scott Gutschewski’s group. Scott had a round of -3 that day and just about made the cut. I’d like to think that I had a hand to play in his making the cut! On the 16th, Scott hooked his drive left into light rough, made a hash of his 2nd, pulling it further left and in between two scoreboards, next to a TV tower. Scott, despondently, called me over and when I told him that his options included a drop on either side of the TIO, the relief on his face was palpable, for on the left of the TIO (nearest to where the ball lay) was a gorse bush you wouldn’t want to send your mother-in-law into! His drop onto a nice clear patch and his brilliant up and down was a treat to watch.
That par saved him from flying home for the weekend and it was a small measure of satisfaction of being there, on hand, to help a professional golfer.
I had a total of 11 decisions on the first 2 days and this apparently, was 11 more than some referees have in 4 days! Back in the Rules tent, all sorts of wild allegations were hurled at me, including being accused of kicking the ball into difficult spots!
Hoylake, in 2006 was a uniquely different experience as well with the course being specially set up to catch Tiger. He hit his driver once in 4 rounds, found a pot bunker and made bogey. For the rest, it was 4 irons off the tee and his brilliant play earned him the title “Champion Golfer of the year”.
After a 4-year wait, I was invited in 2010 to St.Andrews, the 150th anniversary of The Open. Readers may recall a very unique stoppage of play for extremely high winds that year and I was out there on the course thankful that I was warmly clad and that I was not playing in that beastly wind.
Having joined the Rules of Golf Committee of the R&A, representing the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation, I was at Royal St.Georges in 2011, Lytham & St.Annes in 2012, Muirfield in July 2013 & Hoylake July 2014.
For a unique hat trick, I will be at St.Andrews next week, for the 3rd time in a decade, to mark my 8th appearance at The Open Championship and my 10th Major.
I am looking forward to it, as St.Andrews as a town is my favorite place what with being a member of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St.Andrews with its special privileges.
Working at The Open is a master class in all that you want to know about running an event but were afraid to ask!
I am truly grateful to have refereed at The Open, an experience that one can never buy!
Ishwar Achanta
