By Joel Beall
Players sounded off Saturday at the U.S. Women’s Open after playing a setup some deemed unfair.

Breezy and wet conditions stretched out an already hearty Champions Golf Club. Coupled with an array of pins in tucked positions and mud accumulating on golf balls, the field turned in a 74.7 scoring average in Round 3, with just two players breaking par. Granted, U.S. Opens are not envisioned to be leisurely affairs, yet a number of competitors asserted the test presented on Saturday crossed the line, one that purposefully embarrassed them.

“We get on network TV, we get on this big stage, there’s no other golf events going on, you want us to look good on TV more than anything,” said Stacy Lewis, who is a member at Champions, after a 77. “Either they need to play the ball up or they need to adjust their setup. Mud balls combined with the way they set the golf course up today set us up for long rounds and bad golf.”

Added Sarah Schmelzel, who posted a 76: “I think women’s golf deserves to be highlighted a little bit better than that. We want to see good shots on TV. We want our coverage to be fun for viewers. From my experience, and the experience of the girls in my group, it might not have been the most fair.”

Much of the consternation resided in the USGA’s decision to play the ball down. In the governing body’s defence, preferred lies are an uncommon sight for major championship play, yet the players felt conditions necessitated that call.

“[The mud] was an extreme issue,” said Lindsey Weaver, who shot 75. “I’ve never played golf having this many mud balls. I didn’t even know what to expect. … Sometimes it was a major factor, and sometimes it was OK, but it was brutal. Really, really brutal.”

“In a way, it was hit it and hope,” echoed Schmelzel. “It’s out of your control—it’s just luck what can happen to it.”

With similar weather conditions expected Sunday—a nasty forecast forced earlier tee times—veteran Cristie Kerr, who agreed the mud “definitely affected” shots, petitioned the USGA to change its stance heading into the final round.

“It’ll be interesting with the rain coming tomorrow,” Kerr said after a 74. “ [I] doubt the USGA will play it up, but they should consider it.”

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By Keely Levins
Yep, you’re seeing that image correctly. Lindsey Weaver opted for a pushcart instead of a caddie at the AIG Women’s British Open at Royal Troon. The 26-year-old, who played her rookie LPGA Tour season in 2018 and got her card back at Q school in 2019 for the 2020 season, usually hires local caddies. Part of the LPGA’s return protocols included disallowing local caddies. In conjunction with that, the tour allowed the option to not use a caddie at all. So now Weaver is out pushing her bag around Royal Troon, near the top of the leaderboard. She began the weekend one over, two shots off the lead, and was alone in fourth late in Saturday’s round, which included an incredible par.

But it’s not just about rolling the bag. Weaver is also raking her own bunkers, doing her own yardages, grabbing divots, reading putts, selecting clubs. Sure, these are all things any professional golfer is completely capable of doing, but when you’re out there having to do it all yourself, and you’re the only one doing it by yourself, whilst atop the leaderboard of a major, it can add up.

Weaver doesn’t seem to be feeling any heat, though. She’s comfortable doing it alone.

“I feel like it’s kind of back to the basics,” Weaver explained earlier in the week. “This is how junior golf was. This is how college golf was and on the Symetra Tour when I played there for a year. I mean, it’s still just golf. Like I’m still making the final decision at the end of the day.”

Richard Heathcote/R&A
Lindsey Weaver rakes her own bunker on the eighth hole during the third round of the AIG Women’s Open.

Though she appears to be comfortable with the pushcart instead of the caddie, there was one situation in the first round where a caddie might have been useful.

“I was in one bunker and my pushcart flew into another bunker and toppled over and I’m still trying to get a lot of the sand out of my bag,” Weaver said.

The cart flew away despite Weaver having set the brakes. She didn’t harbour any resentment towards the cart, though. It’s not the cart’s fault: it’s more than a decade old.

Weaver also didn’t get the pleasure of fist-bumping her caddie after her remarkable par.

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