Veteran golfer Nick O’Hern argued play should have been suspended earlier after his Australian Open hopes were cruelly blown away in the savage winds that swept across The Lakes in Sydney.
O’Hern shot a final-round 72 to finish the tournament at one-over par after gusts of up to 80kph forced a three-hour suspension of play in the early afternoon.
But the West Australian felt the stoppage came too late after he racked up a costly triple-bogey seven on the 10th hole immediately before officials called a halt.
“That’s probably about about as hard as it gets,” O’Hern said.
“I was surprised we went back out there because it was blowing about the same as what it was when we finished.
“If they were going to stop, it was going to be an hour and a half earlier – or you just keep playing.
“Before we went out for the second time, I spoke to someone who I won’t name and I said: `I’m on the practice putting green and the balls are still moving’.
“He said: ‘You’re going to get balls out there that are going to move.’
“I thought why did you blow the horn (to go back out) because balls are moving on the green. It didn’t make much sense to me.”
O’Hern claimed a lot of his fellow players had similar sentiments.
“I think a lot of the guys were surprised we went out there again because it didn’t seem as though it had changed that much,” O’Hern said.
“But obviously they have the gauges to figure all that stuff out and they know the forecast, where I’m not a weatherman.”
The siren to bring the players off sounded shortly after O’Hern made his triple – when he hit his tee shot into the trees and three-putted.
He said he couldn’t remember ever being more frustrated.
“Having a triple bogey before the siren blows is never a good thing,” he said.
“I tried to calm down as much as I possibly could.”