Captains will face the music over charge of slow play

While players could be  excused for taking longer than normal after the rain started at 4.30pm – play was then stopped at 6pm – concern had been  expressed before then about an issue that led the R&A to take  action when the Amateur Championship was staged a few miles down the Ayrshire coast, at Royal Troon, a couple of months ago.

In the morning, for example, the final foursomes tie in the Scotland versus Ireland match took more than four hours to play 17 holes, exceeding the  alloted time of three hours and 39 minutes, the same in place for the singles matches.

After just eight holes, it was 25 minutes over the permitted time, though that did include a ten-minute delay at the start caused by a ruling required in an earlier match.

While this week’s event is being run by the Confederation of National Golf Unions (CONGU) on behalf of the four Home Nations, Hamish Grey, the chief executive of the Scottish Golf Union, acknowledged the opening day’s pace of play was likely to come under scrutiny.

“The timings are appropriate for this course, but I am sure the championship committee will look at the pace of play and, if required, have a chat with the captains,” he said.

Scott Knowles, the Scotland skipper, revealed he’d be happy for that to happen before his side resumed their opening match against Ireland at 7am this morning with five games still out on the course.

“Slow play is an issue all the time and is a bugbear of both mine and (Scottish national coach) Ian Rae,” said the Kingsknowe man. “It needs to be sorted out, to be honest, as there is no reason for it. It’s okay players having a pre-shot routine but some of them take too long.”

After watching his team open their bid for a fourth successive title triumph with a 9.5-5.5 win over Wales, England captain Terry Casey, the father of Ryder Cup and Walker Cup player Paul, admitted concern had been expressed over the  on-course radio system about slow play.

“I heard a whisper that match No 2 in the singles through six holes was a hole down but after that I thought it [the pace of play] was reasonably okay,” said Casey, who revealed that competitors had been permitted around four hours for match-play ties in the recent English Amateur Championship.

Asked if he had raised the subject of slow play before the event started, he added: “As a captain, I would be shirking my responsibilities if I didn’t mention it. If a tie is played in under four hours it is not a big deal for me – and you can quote me on that.”

Nathan Kimsey, the 19-year-old from Woodhall Spa who was handed the slow play penalty by the R&A in the Amateur Championship, is in the England team that opened their campaign by beating the Welsh. He admitted the action had helped him rather than left a damaging scar as he returned to Ayrshire.

“I never regarded myself as a slow player but timings are there to be obeyed and, after what happened to me at Royal Troon, I have definitely become a touch quicker with my pre-shot routine,” he said after recording an impressive afternoon singles success over Richard James.

While Kimsey and his team-mates already have point on the board, Scotland have their work cut to be the other winners from the opening session after seeing a 3.5-1.5 foursomes lead reduced before Mother Nature intervened.

Glenbervie’s Graeme Robertson overturned an early deficit to come out on top against Amateur champion Alan Dunbar in the top singles match before Kirkhill’s Paul Shields beat Chris Selfridge in the tie behind to  extend the host’s advantage.

But, by the time the klaxon sounded following a tea-time torrent, the Irish, bidding to repeat a success in the four-cornered event at Muirfield four years ago, had not only closed the gap to 5.5-4.5 in completed matches but are leading in four of those five matches being  finished on the resumption of play.

“It was all over the place out there,” said Knowles of the topsy-turvy encounter. “There weren’t many holes being completed - due to a combination of both good play and balls straying into the heather.

“But we aren’t down and out yet and hopefully the play being stopped will bring a change in momentum when it resumes. Brian Soutar, for instance, won two holes to get back to just one down so he’s pumped up and ready to go.”