The Open 2012: Graeme McDowell angered by state of course as bunkers wreak havoc with rounds

GRAEME McDOWELL last night waded into the bunker debate and insisted it is making the Open unfair.

GRAEME McDOWELL last night waded into the bunker debate and insisted it is making the Open unfair.

The Northern Irishman star reckons some of the traps are unplayable due to the standing water and players are being penalised by having to drop.

Countrymen Rory McIlroy’s ball plugged when he took a free drop earlier in the day and the issue has caused controversy.

A spokesman for the R&A said: “It’s not ideal but the water table is higher than the level of many of the bunkers, due entirely to the unprecedented levels of rainfall during spring and summer.

“We removed water from bunkers first thing on Friday morning in the hope that they wouldn’t refill, but due to the water table at its current height, they did.”

But McDowell countered: “A few of those bunkers are kind of a little bit of a question mark. We’re lucky that we’re playing as the golf course is on the edge of unplayable.

“Some of those bunkers need to be Ground Under Repair. One left of the 16th green, if you hit it in there, there’s nowhere to drop because there’s a foot of water. That’s not golf. It’s not fair.

“A few bunkers need to be taken out of play. Hopefully, they dry out overnight. The course has remained unbelievably dry considering the amount of rain.”

Despite the situation, McDowell insists he is ready to go for Claret Jug glory and he’s in the mood to win.

He said: “There’s no-one on the leaderboard that scares me apart from myself. Hopefully, I’ll come down this last fairway on Sunday with a chance to win.”