Martin Slumbers, the chief executive of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, has vowed there will no repeat at Royal Troon this week of the shambolic scenes that tarnished last month’s US Open.
Dustin Johnson’s major breakthrough at Oakmont was overshadowed by a farcical end when he had to play the final seven holes knowing he had to review a possible rules infringement.
The American received a one-shot penalty after it was deemed he caused his ball to move on the fifth green, even though he had initially been absolved of any wrongdoing.
It wasn’t until the 12th hole that Johnson and his nearest competitors were made aware there could be a penalty and it was only after the round that the USGA deemed he had made the ball move.
The penalty was to prove immaterial with Johnson winning the major by three strokes but Slumbers says steps have been taken to ensure there will be no repeat this week.
He said: “We, as in previous years, have very clear rules meetings. In fact the rules meeting was this morning and the process by which the information goes from the walking referees to our rovers and back into the chief referee’s office was discussed, clarified and reinforced. I think we’re pretty good at getting that right.
“We’ve made some changes in light of Oakmont about being more prescriptive.
“But I would say the referees that we have here are highly experienced referees.
“A lot of them work on the major tours and the major amateur events all year round. We have the best professional referees coming from the tours here as well.
“Our feeling is that the standard of the refereeing that will be out there this weekend is second to none.”
Slumbers, meanwhile, confirmed that Trump Turnberry remains on the Open rota – but will not host golf’s oldest major before 2022.
The course, now owned by US presidential candidate Donald Trump, last hosted the Open in 2009.
Slumbers added: “I’ve been very, very clear about this.
“Turnberry was and is part of the pool of courses for the Open Championship.
“There are at the moment nine courses and Turnberry is one of those. We have announced Opens out to 2019. And although there are some fascinating ones to happen between then and 2019, it’s going to be pretty special as we go back to Portrush.
“We’re also very close to announcing 2020 and 2021, one of which will be in England, and one of which will be at St. Andrews.
“We don’t have to consider beyond that for a couple of years, and we’ll pick that up in a couple of years’ time.”