R&A chief vows to protect ‘integrity’ of Women’s Open amid disruption threat

Martin Slumbers has acknowledged that there is a distinct possibility of Thursday’s opening round in the AIG Women’s Open - his final professional event as The R&A’s CEO - being disrupted at St Andrews due to high winds.

On what is set to be a “pretty windy” day, there is a “small but a realistic chance” of gusts of up to 45 mph and, even though steps are being taken on the Old Course to factor in the forecast, it looks as though officials will face a battle to prevent play being impacted in the final major of 2024.

“The Met Office who help us here have been forecasting this for a while now,” said Slumbers of the opening-day conditions in particular for the tournament’s third staging in the sport’s cradle.

High winds are set to be a factor during the opening round of the AIG Women's Open on the Old Course at St Andrews. Picture: Tristan Jones/LET

“We have slowed the golf course down quite a bit. We've raised the height of cut on the greens. We've put a bit of water on them to help them grow a little bit. We've got some pretty good ideas about where we can put the pins to actually protect it as much as we possibly can.

“Most importantly, we will set it up in a way that the players can play. The good news is the wind is forecast all four days to come from pretty much the same quadrant, so we know where we can put the pins to give them some room.

“There is a risk that we'll have delays in play tomorrow, but we'll deal with that. I think the best players in the world want a bit of a hard challenge. I just hope it doesn't blow so hard that we can't play.”

That happened the last time this event was held at the Fife venue in 2013 and also in The Open two years later, when balls began moving on the exposed 11th, 12th and 13th greens near the Eden Estuary.

“This is pretty high winds for us,” added Slumbers, who is stepping down from his role later in the year after nine years at the helm of the St Andrews-based governing body. “I think this is at the top end. I think we'll all be pleased to get through tomorrow.

“We will do everything we can on the golf course to make it playable, and we'll keep the girls playing for as long as we possibly can. But there is the integrity of the whole championship front and centre in our minds.”

Meanwhile, a field led by world No 1 Nelly Korda will playing for a record prize fund of $9.5 million, a $500,000 increase on last year and up from $4.5m at the beginning of a partnership between The R&A and AIG in 2019.