Lift, clean and place a last resort at soggy British Open

• By Jay Coffin
• Jul 18, 2012 9:24 AM ET

LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England – The R&A had what it calls its “Eve of the Championship Press Conference” Wednesday at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. Here is a smattering of the top items discussed.

• With so much rain, playing lift, clean and place “will be a last resort” according to Jim McArthur (pictured right), R&A tournament committee chairman.

• The field is at 157, one more than they’d like to have in the field. Still, it’s not a problem as they will have two twosomes sprinkled in with the rest of the threesomes.

• R&A chief Peter Dawson (center) spoke with Tiger Woods earlier in the week about his “unplayable” comment regarding the rough. “I think Tiger may have been taken somewhat out of context, given my discussions with him.”

• Royal Portrush hosted the Irish Open but it’s not going to host the British Open anytime soon. “Don’t expect anything imminent,” Dawson said.

• The R&A intends to follow a strict pace-of-play policy this week. “We have allowed on the first two rounds on Thursday and Friday in threeballs 4 hours, 30 minutes. And for twoballs on Saturday and Sunday 3 hours, 45 minutes,” said McArthur.