{"id":32638,"date":"2025-07-02T13:10:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T13:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/32638\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T13:10:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T13:10:10","slug":"eight-open-qualifying-players-were-hit-by-controversy-after-officials-mistake-caused-mayhem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/32638\/","title":{"rendered":"Eight Open Qualifying players were hit by controversy after officials\u2019 mistake caused mayhem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Final Qualifying for The Open at Royal Portrush ran a lot smoother than it once did at Sunningdale.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lee Westwood<\/a>, Dean Burmester, Lucas Herbert and Harry Hall were among the 20 men to secure the final spots<\/a> in the last men\u2019s major of the year on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

A flag stuck in a steep slope caused balls to roll off in the 4th hole on the Old Course at SunningdaleCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Four venues across the UK hosted 36-hole events for Ryder Cup<\/a> stars and LIV Golf players<\/a> desperate to qualify for golf\u2019s oldest major<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dundonald Links in Scotland joined English courses Burnham & Berrow, Royal Cinque Ports and West Lancashire in staging the all-important day.<\/p>\n

Sunningdale, meanwhile, is instead hosting the Senior Open Championship, having previously been a mainstay for the oldest leg in golf’s grand slam.<\/p>\n

And the Berkshire club’s Old Course ironically bore witness to one of the most farcical controversies in qualifying history back in 2007.<\/p>\n

During the first round at the 156-yard fourth hole, officials mistakenly placed the pin in a steep, sloping location.<\/p>\n

As a result, eight European Tour players endured major putting disasters as their balls rolled off the green.<\/p>\n

Ricardo Gonzalez five-putted, while Brett Rumford three-putted despite hitting his tee shot to two feet.<\/p>\n

Play was temporarily suspended while the hole was re-positioned, with Open Championship committee chairman Martin Kippax immediately confessing to the epic gaffe.<\/p>\n

Kippax said: \u201cI admit it was a mistake and the responsibility lies on me and me only. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne option was to start again completely, but we are on a tight schedule with 36 holes in one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Officials<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Officials made eight players replay the hole after the opening roundCredit: Getty\"Andersson<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Andersson Hed had a face like thunder as he was driven back to the 4thCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

It meant that at the end of their opening round, the affected eight players were buggied back to the fourth to play 19 holes rather than 18.<\/p>\n

However, this came as little comfort to irate Swede Fredrik Andersson Hed, who parred the hole in his first attempt before the stoppage.<\/p>\n

He then four-putted for a double bogey five after being forced to play to the new pin position to change his four-under-par 66 to a 68.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the European Tour should do the pins,\u201d Andersson Hed said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time I’ve played in an event run by the R&A, there have been one or two that were barely playable.\u201d<\/p>\n

England’s Richard Bland was similarly fuming, having birdied the first time after being 18 inches from a hole-in-one.<\/p>\n

\"Andersson<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Andersson Hed double-bogeyed to change his four-under-par 66 to a 68Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

The now-LIV Golf star then took three on his do-over effort and went from a 72 to 73.<\/p>\n

Bland said: \u201cIt’s not rocket science not to put the flag where it was. Anything with a small bit of speed that didn’t go in was going to roll off the green, as I saw with Ricardo.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I’d made a two, I asked if I had to play it again and was told ‘Yes’.\u201d<\/p>\n

Argentina’s\u00a0Gonzalez couldn’t see what all the fuss was about – he parred on the second attempt to save a triple-bogey six.<\/p>\n

They call that one the Hand of Golf…<\/p>\n

The Open getaway<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Enjoy a 3-night weekend getaway with grounds admission tickets for both Saturday and Sunday of The Open 2025.<\/p>\n

Stay in comfort at the Hilton Templepatrick, with transfers included and exclusive access to the Your Golf Travel Clubhouse.<\/p>\n

All this from just \u00a31,270 per person \u2013 don\u2019t miss your chance to be part of golf\u2019s biggest event in ultimate style.<\/p>\n

Plan your dream golf trip HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Final Qualifying for The Open at Royal Portrush ran a lot smoother than it once did at Sunningdale.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":32639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[27424,1430,27429,27431,27428,27425,27426,27430,22956,62,27427,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-32638","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-eight-open-qualifying-players-hit-by-controversy","9":"tag-golf","10":"tag-golf-mistake","11":"tag-golf-news","12":"tag-golf-throwbacks","13":"tag-open-qualifying","14":"tag-open-qualifying-2025","15":"tag-open-qualifying-fails","16":"tag-royal-portrush","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-sunningdale-golf-club","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114783808852728251","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}