Working at a major championship always gives a special feeling. But when it comes after a long break such as the recent pandemic, it adds a lot more meaning to it.
The 77th US Women’s Open was held from 2–5 June at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club, Southern Pines, North Carolina. It was my fourth US Women’s Open as a Rules official, and with the last one being four years ago, I was excited just as I was for my first.
The award-winning Donald Ross course combined with challenging hole positions and firm course conditions presented exactly what I would’ve expected from a major championship in the United States of America. It produced another great champion, Australia’s Minjee Lee, capturing her second career major title with a record-setting performance over the week.
Back to the Rules, we had an international team of 36 referees, with 22 stationary referees looking after all key locations of the golf course, 13 rovers roving around specific zones mainly focusing on pace of play while assisting stationary referees when needed, and of course, a chief referee making the final calls.
While attending the championship as a rover, my main duty was on pace of play, and while a few long walks from greens to tees, challenging par-3s and reachable par-5s kept the work busy, with the help of stationary referees providing accurate information whenever necessary, the team well managed the pace of play, and were all proud to see the last putt go in exactly as scheduled. As we always say, “at the end of the day, it’s all about pace of play!”
My other duty apart from the competition itself was assisting the USGA in making sure that all players and caddies in the field were aware of the new Local Rule in place for the week (Model Local Rule G-11; Restricting Use of Green-Reading Materials), before making their first tee shots on Thursday.
As written in the purpose statement of Model Local Rule G-11, Rule 4.3, and specifically Interpretation 4.3a/1, puts limitations on the size and scale of detailed green-reading materials. But to ensure that players and caddies use only their eye and feel to help them read the line of play on the putting green, the Committee may further restrict the use of green-reading materials by requiring that players are limited throughout their round to using only the yardage book (and notes) that has been approved for use in the competition.
During the practice rounds, along with the USGA’s Craig Winter – Senior Director of Rules of Golf and Amateur Status, we manged to speak to every single player and caddie that were not familiar with the Local Rule, and explained the key points (in three steps) that players and caddies should know regarding the Local Rule.
The first step was about yardage books and maps that could be used for the championship. With MLR G-11 in place, players and caddies were only allowed to use the approved official yardage book for the championship, which meant any other yardage books or green books could not be used for any reason during play. Players and caddies were also allowed to use and take notes on any hole-location sheet issued by the Committee, and any full course map on paper that is no larger than 8.5” x 11” or A4 size, whichever source they came from.
Step two was on putting systems. All players and caddies were allowed to use putting systems such as AimPoint, however any charts, graphs or other data from such systems were not allowed to be referenced during the rounds. In other words, players and caddies were not allowed to take notes from these charts or graphs to the yardage book or any other approved material but were allowed to use the system itself and any numbers from the chart so long as they were from memory, and not in written notes.
Finally, step three, handwritten notes. Handwritten notes that could help read the line of play on putting greens were allowed to be added to any approved materials so long as those notes were from the player’s or their caddie’s own experience, judgement, or practice and written only by the player or their caddie. Other data or information that could help read a line of play on the putting green were not allowed to be copied into the approved materials, including any data or information from 1) a green-reading book, 2) any non-approved yardage book, 3) the use of devices (such as a level or ball-rolling device), 4) putting system charts and graphs, as well as any notes created using the formula, and 5) conversations with other people, including other players, caddies or coaches.
Thankfully, there were no incidents related to green-reading materials (or any other major Rulings) throughout the week. It sure was a good practice as there would be a similar approach to all players and caddies regarding Model Local Rule G-11 prior to our major championships, The Open and the AIG Women’s Open!
