J.J. Spaun’s first career round in the Open Championship was off to a rollicking start on Thursday, the U.S. Open winner going out in one-under 35 at Royal Portrush. Unfortunately, it ended on a semi-sour note.
According to on-course reporter John Wood, who had been following Spaun and his playing partners, Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele, the entire group was put on the clock late in their first round.
“I’ve been with them for five holes,” Wood said on the USA broadcast, adding “and I have not seen a group in front of them. They are definitely behind.”
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Of course, being out on the clock is simply a warning that comes with no penalty to any of the players in the group. It’s a stern request to pick up the pace. When the request is ignored, though, that’s when things get dicey.
As the group arrived in the 18th fairway, NBC’s Dan Hicks mentioned that they’d been on the course for over five and a half hours already (the trio teed off at 9:58 a.m. local time). When they arrived at the green, Hicks brought in R&A rules official Charlie Maran, who notified viewers that Spaun had been given a “bad time” back on the 17th hole. A bad time is given when a player exceeds the maximum amount of time allotted to play a shot, normally 40 seconds. In Spaun’s case, however, he was given 50 seconds because he was playing first. Much like being put on the clock, the first bad time is just a warning.
“J.J. would have had 50 seconds to play [his second shot] into the [17th] green because he was the first person to play,” Maran said. “The next players would have had 40 seconds each, and unfortunately J.J. ran over the 50 seconds.”
As Maran went on to note, Spaun’s potential troubles don’t end there or after he completes the first round.
“That bad time will be carried forward into the next round. A further bad time would be one penalty shot.”
Spaun went on to bogey the 18th and finish at two over, which will likely have him fighting to make the cut on Friday. As if that wasn’t tense enough, he’ll now have the threat of a potential one-stroke penalty looming for the entire second round.
Wood later reported that Adam Hayes, caddie for Jon Rahm, had a tense exchange with a rules official as this all unfolded.
“Hayes had a real problem with it,” Wood said. “It was a heated discussion with the official over the bad time. He was sticking up for J.J.”
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Is it the British Open or the Open Championship? The name of the final men’s major of the golf season is a subject of continued discussion. The event’s official name, as explained in this op-ed by former R&A chairman Ian Pattinson, is the Open Championship. But since many United States golf fans continue to refer to it as the British Open, and search news around the event accordingly, Golf Digest continues to utilize both names in its coverage.
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
