John Philp, the head greenskeeper at Carnoustie was suspended from his job today for a confrontation with a 16 year old apprentice over smoke breaks.

In itself, probably not newsworthy, but with the Open Championship taking place at Carnoustie in a month it's certainly an interesting time to send your head greenskeeper home.

Philp was also the greenskeeper back in 1999, which was the last time the Open was at Carnoustie, when the winning score was +6 and the players complained about the almost impossibly conditions of the course. Of course, that became the sidebar story once Jean Van de Velde took a triple bogey 8 on the 72 hole of the Championship to drop three strokes and put himself in a three way tie with Justin Leonard and eventual winner Paul Laurie. (an interesting note is Angel Cabrera took 4th place that year, one stroke out of the playoff)

This is all most likely much ado about nothing, but if Philp is out much longer and the course plays easier this time around, then perhaps there's something to this story.

Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=2910455

(0)