Qualification for the Open at Sunningdale was embroiled in controversy early when the position of the fourth hole was changed forcing eight players to return and replay the Par 3 after their rounds had finished.

More Stories

• Life on Tour

The decision to move the pin came after Argentina's Ricardo Gonzalez five-putted and Australian Brett Rumford four-putted after hitting his tee shot to two feet.

Anything that missed the cup was invariably rolling off the green and Open Championship committee chairman Martin Kippax accepted the poor position of the pin and moved the hole for the rest of the field.

However, when the players who played the original hole replayed the hole later, some of them shot higher scores than their original efforts.

Sweden's Fredrik Andersson had double-bogeyed second time round after an initial par, while Richard Bland could only par after originally have claimed a birdie.

For others though the decision was a blessing with Ricardo Gonzalez improving by three shots as he turned his triple bogey into a par.

"I admit it was a mistake and the responsibility lies on me and me only. One option was to start again completely, but we are on a tight schedule with 36 holes in one day." said Kippax about the incident.

- SF -