Empty seats, empty words, empty vessels - the calm, or not, after the storm

The day after the Open Championship can often resemble one of those apocalyptic disaster films but at least Phil Mickelson ensured that Muirfield produced a real blockbuster. Now, everybody will sit down to rake over the debris. Or, that's what most of us were planning to do yesterday morning with the top brass of the R&A until a short statement was slipped quietly on to our desks amid the hustle and bustle of Mickelson's first Open triumph.

Unless a British or Irish golfer wins the Claret Jug, then there is very rarely a champion's press conference the morning after the night before. They don't want to hang about when the private jet is revving its engine on the nearest runway, after all. In the absence 
of the man of the moment, the 
high-ranking officials of the R&A have tended to fill the void over the years with a casual postmortem of proceedings. It's become something of a tradition but the St Andrews supremos had clearly had enough this year.

"Please note, Phil Mickelson 
will not be available for a press conference tomorrow morning 
and there will be no R&A press conference," read a short briefing that was circulated around press HQ. "We look forward to seeing you at Royal Liverpool from 13-20 July 2014." In other words; sod off. The drawbridge was hauled up, the portcullis came crashing down and any questions would go unanswered.

Of course, there had been plenty of probing and prodding during the build-up to the 142nd championship and even the R&A's embattled chief executive Peter Dawson, a fairly calm and collected figure when plonked in front of microphones, dictaphones and cameras, looked increasingly flustered by the unrelenting barrage on the issue of single-sex golf clubs, a subject that has whipped up quite staggering levels of hysteria in the media.

The man and woman on the street, meanwhile, have probably got more important things to worry about in everyday life. There has been so much written and said on the topic by male and female commentators – some of it thought-provoking, some of it ridiculously self-righteous – and it seems that if you're not seen to be outraged by the current situation then you're in danger of being arrested by the independent thought police and hurled into a cell until you toe the party line.

Dawson was never going to fuel the frenzy by putting himself in front of his inquisitors again yesterday, but he has been besieged like never before and is well aware of the damage that is being wrought on the R&A. Eight years ago, he oversaw the somewhat historic addition of the word 'female' to the Open Championship's entry form. Change does happen. Given the current climate, don't bet against some other seismic shift. It just won't be overnight.

Slow-moving issues caused another talking point over the weekend when Japan's Hideki Matsuyama was given a one-shot penalty from the pace-of-play polis. On the 17th hole, during Saturday's third round, he took two minutes, 
12 seconds to play a shot –"well over twice the allotted time" according to R&A rules director David Rickman – and paid the price for his dithering. The reaction, once again, bordered on the hysterical. His playing partner, Johnson Wagner, made some kind of impassioned plea to get the decision overturned, while other players waded in with criticism of heavy-handed officials as a number of groups were put on the clock. Amid the growing grumbles, Rickman himself had to come into the media centre for a press conference to explain the ruling.

Ludicrous. It seems you can't simply make a decision and stick by it now without having to issue a statement and stand up in front of a baying mob to defend your judgment and actions. Players are regularly moaning and whining about slow play, that it is the "cancer that is killing our game", while demanding swift and robust action from the powers that be. Yet, when someone is actually punished, there is an uproar and a barrage of bleatings about the unfairness of it all. You can't have it both ways, boys. After the penalty doled out to 14-year-old Tianlang Guan at April's Masters, and now 21-year-old rookie Matsuyama, cynics say the referees are just picking on the easy targets.

Conspiracy theories will always abound but it certainly looked like the punishment had some effect on the rest of the field as the final groups on Sunday played at a sprightly pace. There may be certain things that take a while to change 
in this game but it was refreshing 
to see the whip being cracked on 
the slowcoaches.

Empty seats, empty words, empty vessels - the calm, or not, after the storm

Empty seats, empty words, empty vessels - the calm, or not, after the storm

W ell, that's it for another year. The stands are already coming down, the Portaloos have been obliterated with dynamite and the media centre is in the process of being razed to the ground by Royal & Ancient officials who are no doubt hoping that a few journalists are still trapped inside. Even if one or two stranded scribblers manage to claw themselves from the twisted, mangled wreckage, they'll probably be finished off with flame throwers as they emerge coughing and spluttering into the dusty haze.

The day after the Open Championship can often resemble one of those apocalyptic disaster films but at least Phil Mickelson ensured that Muirfield produced a real blockbuster. Now, everybody will sit down to rake over the debris. Or, that's what most of us were planning to do yesterday morning with the top brass of the R&A until a short statement was slipped quietly on to our desks amid the hustle and bustle of Mickelson's first Open triumph.

Unless a British or Irish golfer wins the Claret Jug, then there is very rarely a champion's press conference the morning after the night before. They don't want to hang about when the private jet is revving its engine on the nearest runway, after all. In the absence 
of the man of the moment, the 
high-ranking officials of the R&A have tended to fill the void over the years with a casual postmortem of proceedings. It's become something of a tradition but the St Andrews supremos had clearly had enough this year.

"Please note, Phil Mickelson 
will not be available for a press conference tomorrow morning 
and there will be no R&A press conference," read a short briefing that was circulated around press HQ. "We look forward to seeing you at Royal Liverpool from 13-20 July 2014." In other words; sod off. The drawbridge was hauled up, the portcullis came crashing down and any questions would go unanswered.

Of course, there had been plenty of probing and prodding during the build-up to the 142nd championship and even the R&A's embattled chief executive Peter Dawson, a fairly calm and collected figure when plonked in front of microphones, dictaphones and cameras, looked increasingly flustered by the unrelenting barrage on the issue of single-sex golf clubs, a subject that has whipped up quite staggering levels of hysteria in the media.

The man and woman on the street, meanwhile, have probably got more important things to worry about in everyday life. There has been so much written and said on the topic by male and female commentators – some of it thought-provoking, some of it ridiculously self-righteous – and it seems that if you're not seen to be outraged by the current situation then you're in danger of being arrested by the independent thought police and hurled into a cell until you toe the party line.

Dawson was never going to fuel the frenzy by putting himself in front of his inquisitors again yesterday, but he has been besieged like never before and is well aware of the damage that is being wrought on the R&A. Eight years ago, he oversaw the somewhat historic addition of the word 'female' to the Open Championship's entry form. Change does happen. Given the current climate, don't bet against some other seismic shift. It just won't be overnight.

Slow-moving issues caused another talking point over the weekend when Japan's Hideki Matsuyama was given a one-shot penalty from the pace-of-play polis. On the 17th hole, during Saturday's third round, he took two minutes, 
12 seconds to play a shot –"well over twice the allotted time" according to R&A rules director David Rickman – and paid the price for his dithering. The reaction, once again, bordered on the hysterical. His playing partner, Johnson Wagner, made some kind of impassioned plea to get the decision overturned, while other players waded in with criticism of heavy-handed officials as a number of groups were put on the clock. Amid the growing grumbles, Rickman himself had to come into the media centre for a press conference to explain the ruling.

Ludicrous. It seems you can't simply make a decision and stick by it now without having to issue a statement and stand up in front of a baying mob to defend your judgment and actions. Players are regularly moaning and whining about slow play, that it is the "cancer that is killing our game", while demanding swift and robust action from the powers that be. Yet, when someone is actually punished, there is an uproar and a barrage of bleatings about the unfairness of it all. You can't have it both ways, boys. After the penalty doled out to 14-year-old Tianlang Guan at April's Masters, and now 21-year-old rookie Matsuyama, cynics say the referees are just picking on the easy targets.

Conspiracy theories will always abound but it certainly looked like the punishment had some effect on the rest of the field as the final groups on Sunday played at a sprightly pace. There may be certain things that take a while to change 
in this game but it was refreshing 
to see the whip being cracked on 
the slowcoaches.