An Open to Remember: Ishwar Achanta

The 10th Major as a Referee including 8 Open Championships, one would have thought that there is very little left to see. I was, tactfully, reminded of Chairman Mao’s words “Complacency is the enemy of study. We cannot really learn anything until we rid ourselves of complacency”. The 2015 Open went into the 5th day for the second time ever in its history, had balls dancing around on the green due to winds gusting to 40 knots, 25 MM rain in a couple of hours, multiple rulings in one go, balls in the Swilcan Burn, a nerve racking finish with a play off thrown in and a very deserving Champion Golfer of the year.

That Zach Johnson was going to win it was never a doubt in my mind after I had refereed his group on day 1 of the Championship.

Teeing off at 1301 hours on Thursday with Tommy Fleetwood of England and Bernd Weisberger of Austria, Zach played a near immaculate round of 6 under 66 to lie in a tied for 2nd place.

I say near immaculate because he had an unfortunate three putt, (actually a chip from the bottom of the green and then 2 putt) bogey on the very difficult 17th,Road Hole.

This fantastic opening round set him up perfectly for his win and I think that this was probably the most difficult round he would have had, for he had a tail wind going out (5 under) but a monstrous head wind, coming in (1 under)!

The winds were gusting upto 25 miles per hour that evening and it was bitterly cold too. Zach needed hand warmers between shots to keep the feel from going out from his fingers. That someone who does not have the length off the tee like some of the others in the field is a testimony to his accurate play and solid putting!

There were two interesting rulings to do on day 1.  On the par 4,12th,Tommy Fleetwood made a hash of his drive, which ended up a 150 yards in the thick stuff on the right side. After a 3-minute search, a ball was found, nestled in the grass, by Bernd. Tommy asked to identify the ball and I supervised the process (Rule 12-2 anyone?). A close read of this Rule may confuse some of you as to why the Referee was involved in this process, when the Rule says (….He may then lift the ball and identify it, provided he gives his opponent, marker or fellow-competitor an opportunity to observe the lifting and replacement……). The Rules of Golf Committee debated this and found that the Referee, if proximate, could well fulfill this role and hence the Decision 5-3/7 that gives the Referee the specific authority to fulfill the responsibilities as stated in the Rule.

While identifying the ball, the player, obviously, had to part the grass to see if it was his ball and then pick it up. His fellow competitor, Bernd, was concerned that Timothy may have moved excessive grass in this process and that his current lie was improved from the original lie. Rule 12-1 allows the player to touch or bend long grass to the extent necessary and in order to eliminate any doubts, the player was asked to move some of the grass back over the ball.

On green 17th , both Zach’s ball and Bernd’s ball were found lying very close to each other. Both told me that they were not sure if the balls had collided and in order to check this, I called for any TV footage that might have recorded this. Fortunately, Kevin Barker who was roving on the 17th happened to see both balls come to rest and he was able to confirm that there was no breach of Rule 18-5.

Zach who was away, chose to chip instead of putt and created a divot. He enquired with me if he was permitted to repair the divot, which I confirmed in the affirmative. From where I was perched, it appeared that Bernd’s lie was altered and he would have been well within his rights to place his ball within one club length of his original lie as sanctioned by Rule 20-3.b. Bernd, chose to play the ball from the original lie.

The divoted area could now be treated as a G.U.R and following groups would be entitled to claim relief in accordance with Rule 25-1.b.(ii).

I had refereed Zach at the U.S Open at Chambers Bay on Day 3 and it was a minor reunion of sorts, on the 1st tee. I was so very glad to have seen him make that clutch putt on the 72nd hole to get into the play off and then watch  him keep his head, after that bogey on the 3rd play off hole (the 17th ) to birdie the 18th and win this coveted trophy.

I hope to have the pleasure of running into him again somewhere and renew this acquaintance.

2015 was a hat trick for me at St.Andrews, having refereed there previously in 2005 and 2010. I have always maintained that The Open is a master class in running a major event and 2015 was no exception, the R&A having pulled off a great event under very, very trying circumstances.

Ishwar Achanta