19 July 2008 15:50 GMT

David Rickman, R&A Director of Rules, answers questions about the potential suspension of play due to the high winds.

How close have you been to a suspension today?
We had a couple of players on different greens, green number eight and green ten, who were in vulnerable positions by chance at the same time so that created a concern. Anthony Kim was one of the players and he had difficulty getting the ball back in play. Fortunately he managed to do so and things appear to have settled a little. Having got over that hiccup, play continues.

What’s the tipping point?
It’s difficult, it’s a judgment call. We have referees with every game and we also have very experienced European and US tour staff out there to help assess what’s going on. It’s a judgement call mainly based on the greens. They’ve dried out in the sun and if we get situations where we get balls consistently moving, are not staying where they came to rest or players can’t replace them having marked, lifted and cleaned, then they would be the indicating signs that if they became consistent problems then we would have to suspend play.

Can you suspend play on one or two holes or does everyone have to stop.
We would have a suspension across the course, what we call an ordinary suspension, which would allow players to continue the hole they are playing but stop at the end of that hole.

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