Snarl up after kim is blown off course

Jul 20 2008 Brian Mcsweeney

ANTHONY KIM caused a Birkdale traffic jam when 50mph winds blew his ball 15 YARDS off a green.

The young sensation of American golf had to wait almost 45 minutes for the gales battering the exposed 10th green to die down before he could replace his ball to its original spot and finish the hole.

That caused a huge hold-up for the later groups leaving the likes of Camillo Villegas and Greg Norman sitting in huts and behind stands to shelter from the elements until the backlog eased.

Worried R&A officials admitted they were close to suspending play as the howling wind wreaked havoc mid-afternoon.

And Kim, after weathering the storm to shoot an impressive one-over 71, feared the organisers would halt proceedings any minute. Well in the hunt on seven-over par he said: "The ball blew a foot back then another foot and soon it had rolled about 15 yards.

"I knew it was pointless to try to replace the ball because it would just keep rolling.

"So we called a referee and he told me to keep my ball in my pocket until the wind died down.

"It must have taken over half an hour before I could finish the hole and I really thought they were going to suspend play because that ball was not stopping. The wind was so strong my hat almost blew off 10 times on the back nine.

"But this is awesome! I like playing in this stuff and I'm having a blast."

Director of rules David Rickman confirmed R&A bosses strongly considered bringing The Open to a standstill.

Rickman said: "We have referees with every group to help assess what's going on.

"The greens dried out in the sun but if the ball is consistently moving and referees are indicating signs of consistent problems we would have to suspend play.

"We had a couple of players in vulnerable positions. Anthony Kim had difficulty getting the ball back in play but having got over that hiccup we decided to let things continue."

Meanwhile, aptly-named Graeme Storm slammed the tournament officials for changing their minds over the rule that penalises players a stroke after they have addressed the ball.

Yesterday they introduced a local rule relaxing the usual decree but Storm said: "It's confusing because when they first explained it they said if you address the ball then it moves in the wind you won't be penalised.

"But our referee changed his mind halfway up the same hole, saying it's only if you haven't fully addressed it.

"But how do you decide what that entails? The reason they've come out with this local rule is so play could get finished. It's a difficult one."