Tommy Fleetwood falls foul of new bunker raking policy at Open
The Englishman was one over when he drove into the sand short of the driveable par-four fifth but when he reached his ball he was not impressed.
His escape hit the lip of the bunker and only just came out. He went on to bogey and his struggles continued as he eventually finished with a two-over 72, five off the lead.
For decades the R&A used greenkeepers as bunker-rakers with each group but this year abandoned that policy and left the responsibility to caddies.
"It's a change for us but we think a good one," new R&A chief Mark Darbon said Wednesday.
Fleetwood was not so sure, saying: "It wasn't a great rake job. But the first thing is I was not very happy to be in there, so that's my fault. But when things aren't going well...
"It was like in somebody's hitting mark that hadn't really been raked great. I probably could have managed it better."
Asked whether he would like to see the return of bunker-rakers he added: "That would be handy. The amount that I hit in them today, I'm sure I was probably asking for the bunker-rakers back.
"They've always had bunker-rakers until this week? I thought so. I thought that was odd.
"You don't know what's gone on before. I'm not going to hold it against anyone too much.
"I'm not going to get angry about anyone where you don't know what's happening, but it wasn't great and bunker rakers would have been nice."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Tyrrell Hatton hunting Ryder Cup place and major glory at Royal Portrush
Tyrrell Hatton will have the Ryder Cup in the back of his mind when he heads out for the final round of The Open as he realises there is little chance of him catching runaway leader Scottie Scheffler. The Englishman is six shots adrift of the world number one, who sits at 14 under, but he knows there is a bigger picture. 'It's nice to be high up on the leaderboard in a major,' said the 33-year-old, who finished joint fourth at last month's US Open having been in contention until the last couple of holes. 'Certainly tomorrow is the last round for me to earn Ryder Cup points, there's a lot to play for tomorrow. 'I'm hoping that I can go out there and play a really good round of golf. I'd love to make the Ryder Cup team automatically and not rely on needing a pick. 'One thing I'm proud of the last three Ryder Cups I've played is that I've made the team automatically. 'Sure, since I joined LIV, I knew that was going to make things a lot harder for me to make it a fourth time. 'I guess for self pride I'd love to keep that streak going of being an automatic pick. 'That will make it even more pleasing, rewarding because I know that I've had a lot less tournaments than the other guys to do it.' Hatton currently sits fourth in the European Ryder Cup standings. Only the top six qualify automatically. A good finish at Royal Portrush will consolidate his position and that is the best he can hope for as he knows this is not the same as when he contended in the previous major. 'It is a very different challenge and at the moment a completely different situation,' he added after a round of 68, the highlight being a hole-out eagle at the par-five seventh. 'I'd have to have an unbelievable front nine tomorrow to be in the same position going into the back nine as what I experienced at Oakmont.'
The 42
4 hours ago
- The 42
McIlroy charge electrifies Portrush but Scottie Scheffler remains as in-control as ever before
ON TUESDAY SCOTTIE Scheffler looked coolly down on all of our silly little het-up emotions and excitements and told us that none of it really matters because, when you think about it, what's the point? He did the same to us all today, but this time on the golf course. Rory McIlroy brought the spark plugs to ignite an electrifying Moving Day with a raucous, rollicking 66, but Scheffler eased to a 67 to leave everyone merely moving at a yawning distance below him. He takes a four-shot lead into Sunday. . . this Open looks done. For all of McIlroy's brilliance, he started the day seven from Scheffler and ended it six back, as Scheffler shot a bogey-free 67 to take a four-shot lead into the final day. Haotong Li has solo second at 10-under, while Matt Fitzpatrick is third, a single shot back. McIlroy, at minus-eight, is alongside Tyrrell Hatton, Chris Gotterup, and Harris English in a tie for fourth. 'He's playing like Scottie', said McIlroy. 'I don't think it's a surprise. He's just so solid. He doesn't make mistakes.' McIlroy was the energy's epicentre but the pulses thrummed out in all directions. Tyrrell Hatton holed out for eagle from the seventh fairway; Xander Schauffele eagled two of the par-fives; Matt Fitzpatrick chipped in for eagle on the second; John Parry made a hole-in-one on the 13th. But once again Scheffler remained exquisitely above the madding fray; standing at easy, phlegmatic distance from all this base human drama like some philosopher-king. Advertisement Scottie Scheffler. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo McIlroy didn't make the weekend here in 2019 and so he started like a man eager to make amends. He took a driving iron to safely find the first fairway and left himself 35 feet for birdie. . . which he poured right into the hole. The roar erupted and rumbled all the way back down the fairway to slam in the face of any wandering fans elsewhere. He then gave him an eagle look on the second hole, only to leave his putt agonisingly short. He nonetheless tapped in to open up with two-straight birdies. The crowds McIlroy magnetised were extraordinary, with great masses of people moving behind him, like mudslides flowing down the walkways. Keegan Bradley and Nicolai Højgaard were playing in the group behind and must have felt like they were consistently arriving in some suddenly-evacuated town, with the grandstands emptied and detritus drifting around trampled-down walkways. The Rory Run continued with a tidy par on the par-three third and then another birdie on four to fling him to within three of Scottie Scheffler's lead. Then, however, the momentum stalled for a while, with some terrific, arcing putts agonisingly skirting the hole. McIlroy also threw in a penchant for the utterly bizarre: when he went miles right on 11, the follow-through of his shot from the rough spat up a long-buried golf ball from some round in the mists of time. McIlroy beheld the ball like Yorick's Skull before tossing it away. Alas, he made bogey, and moments after Scottie Scheffler awoke with an eagle on the par-five seventh. This swing sent him back to seven shots off the lead. But we know Rory well. There immediately came another heady rush of adrenaline, as McIlroy trickled in an epic, 56-foot putt for eagle on the very next hole. He raised his arm aloft as the wreaths of greenside crowds erupted. It was, he said later, the loudest roar he's ever heard on a golf course. The frenzy was amped up and suddenly things were going well even when they were going badly. He took a driving iron off the 15th tee and still went left and into the rough, and then saw his second shot hit the pin and drop to within a couple of feet for a shot less gained than gifted. He went to Calamity – the par-three on which you cannot go right – and went right, but saved his par with a stunning pitch to four feet. He blew his tee shot on 17 miles to the right but got a friendly lie among the crowd to get down for par. But all the while Scheffler offered no encouragement. While he didn't roar away from the field across his back nine, he crushed the field with flashes of sorry hope. A missed iron into 11 was a kind of black swan event, but from a gnarly lie on a mound to the left of the green, he pitched himself into range to get up and down. He then left himself 10 feet for his par on 14. . . and made it. He then birdied 16 for the third-straight day, saw a birdie putt shave the hole on 17, Earlier, Shane Lowry's misery was somehow compounded even further en route to a three-over 74. Having lost two shots to a penalty ruling by the R&A last night, he awoke in the middle of the night with a vomiting bug. He thus visited almost as many bathrooms as fairways across a brutally draining round, and will be among the early starters on Sunday, at three-over for the tournament. But for all the anarchic energy around him, it was yet again Scottie Scheffler's day. But goodness, what a day all the same.
Irish Independent
4 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Watch: Rory McIlroy feeds off Portrush support to stay in Open hunt despite bizarre incident during his round
Rory vows to take the fight to Scheffler on Open's final day Roared on by a 50,000-strong home crowd at Royal Portrush, the Holywood star birdied three of his first four holes and while he stalled mid-round and bogeyed the 11th, an eagle at the 12th, followed by another birdie at the 15th, gave him hope. Scheffler was not at his very best but after starting with six pars, he went eagle-birdie at the seventh and eighth, then followed stellar par saves at the 11th and 14th with his third successive birdie two at the 16th en route to a 67 that gave him a four-shot lead over China's Haotong Li (69) and five shots to spare over Matt Fitzpatrick (71) on 14-under. 'Look, Scottie Scheffler, he's inevitable, even when he doesn't have his best stuff,' said McIlroy, who is tied for fourth with American duo Chris Gotterup (68), Harris English (68) and England's Tyrrell Hatton (68) on eight-under. 'He's become a complete player. He's so good around the greens. He's improved so much with his putter. It's going to be tough to catch him if he keeps playing the way he does. 'But if I can get out and get off to a similar start, get the crowd going, hopefully he sees that a couple of groups behind me and you never know. 'I just need to go out and play another really good round of golf and see what happens.' McIlroy knows he has a chance, but he will need to drive the ball better, having escaped disaster by inches several times yesterday. He got off to a magnificent start, rolling in a big, breaking 35-footer for birdie at the first and added further birdies at the second and fourth to get to within four of Scheffler's lead. He was still just four shots behind as he headed down the 11th but made bogey as his approach from the right rough ballooned into the air and went just 114 yards as a lost ball buried under his own killed its flight. Scheffler then sprang to life by making a 10-footer for eagle at the seventh to get to 12-under. But while McIlroy raised the roof by holing a 56-footer down the slope for an eagle at the 12th, he described as 'one of the coolest moments I've ever had on a golf course', Scheffler brushed in a 16-footer for birdie at the eighth. McIlroy kept the foot down and birdied the 15th from four feet, but as Scheffler got up and down from heavy rough at the 11th, McIlroy had to scramble for par from the banks of the War Hallow at the 16th to remain five behind. Scheffler then made a 10-footer for par at the 14th and birdied the 16th to extend his lead, but McIlroy felt he gave the crowd what they came to see. 'Yeah, it was incredible,' he said. 'It was so much fun. I got off to the perfect start, three-under through four ... then, to play those last seven holes at three-under, I thought that was a good effort. 'I played well. I rode my luck at times, but it was an incredible atmosphere out there. I feel like I've at least given myself half a chance.' Scheffler will have other ideas and after going bogey-free and dropping just three shots so far this week, McIlroy will likely need to go even lower today to have a chance. As for Shane Lowry, the 2019 champion's nightmare week continued when he was struck by a stomach virus overnight and carded a three-over 74 to end the day on three over. Shane Lowry. Photo: Sportsfile 'I haven't eaten today yet,' said Lowry, who admitted he was still 'gutted' over the two-stroke penalty that turned a second-round 70 into a 72. 'I tried to get a protein drink down me after eight holes and felt like throwing up all over the place. So yeah, it's been a tough, tough day, but I'm not going to make excuses.' As for the rules incident, he admitted it was a big blow, but he was reluctant to talk about it again.'To be honest, I'm gutted,' said Lowry, who hopes to finish on a high today, take a break and then come back feeling strong for the FedExCup playoffs and Europe's Ryder Cup defence.
