Twosome grateful for O’Hair invitation
They made use of the time-honoured courtesy of the faster group being allowed to play through.
Scott Verplank, Sean O’Hair and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano kicked off the second round of the 76th Masters at 12.50pm (Irish time), while Reavie and Laird followed at 1.01pm as a twosome after 1998 Masters champion Mark O’Meara withdrew prior to the opening round.
Reavie and Laird were approached by a Masters official on the third hole and informed that O’Hair had extended an invitation to let the duo play through. Reavie and Laird were allowed to play the fourth hole while the trio waited greenside, and then moved through on the fifth tee.
“It took me about a half-second to say yes when the official asked if we wanted to play through,” said Scottish golfer Laird.
“It was a smart thing to do. I’m glad they did it.”
And despite going around the course faster than most, the rushing did not seem to effect Laird who, with a birdie at 18, carded an even-par 72 to make the cut.
“But even if they [the players ahead] weren’t playing slow, they might look back and see us leaning on our bags [waiting] and start rushing, and we wouldn’t want that either,” said Reavie, who shot two over, a massive improvement on his seven over the day before.
It’s not unusual for groups to play through on the professional tours, but usually the cause is a lost ball or rules question.
“It worked out good for both of us. They don’t have us leaning on our bags on every hole and them feeling we’re right up their [rear] on every hole, and we don’t like waiting. Yesterday was tough. We were in the middle of the field and waited for five minutes on every shot.”
There was a question about why Masters officials didn’t just put the twosome out first. “It’s easier to do what they did instead of switching tee times and causing confusion,” Laird said.
