The 19 Hole Qualifier

Interesting follow by Lewine Mair of the Telegraph on the Sunningdale Open Championship qualifier in which players were made to play 19 holes instead of 18 because the R&A botched a hole location. Mair begins his report with a sentence that has to my knowledge never been uttered about the USGA in similar situations, Shinnecock, say:

The R&A put absolutely no spin on the mistake which led to eight competitors playing 19 holes rather than 18 in the first round of the 2007 Open Championship's international final qualifying at Sunningdale yesterday.

Has a nice ring, doesn't it?

-- Bob Carney