‘Seconds of terror’: This Australian helps decide the fate of the world’s best golfers

They’re the people you seldom see on a golf course until they’re needed.

But as the golfing world found out late on Friday afternoon at Royal Portrush when local hero Shane Lowry’s practice swing for his second shot on the 12th hole made his ball move, there would be anarchy without them.

Australian Heath McLeod is one of the golf referees adjudicating at the British Open at Royal Portrush.Credit: X

In fact, a rules’ official changed the course of Lowry’s tournament.

One of the 45 tournament referees at the 153rd Open Championship this week is Heath McLeod, a Victorian with eight years of experience on the Australian PGA tour, who this week has quietly walked the Northern Irish links course with some of the biggest names in world sport.

“Hours of boredom, seconds of terror; that’s what is quite often referred to as a referee,” McLeod told this masthead on Saturday afternoon as the sun peeked through the clouds behind the 16th green.

“On Thursday morning, I did a couple of rulings very quickly for Dustin Johnson and Thursday afternoon I went back out again and did nothing, I wandered around and watched some good golf, that was it.”

Shane Lowry found himself in a spot of bother during the second round.Credit: Getty Images

Whether it’s amateur events in rural Australia or one of the four majors, McLeod has just about seen it all when it comes to controversial decisions in golf.

He said the penalty handed to Lowry on Friday was fairly stock standard. The ball moved.

“It’s probably a big thing for the amateur golf lovers out there and trying to dissect the rules, but when you have world-class rules officials, you can’t add anything. In that instance, you’re just an interested bystander.

“And I can assure you, that every single person on the rules’ committee would have been trying to find a way to get the player out of it.

“We are not the police. Professional referees are not the police. We don’t want to penalise players, we want to help and quite often the first thing you will say to a player when they put their hand up is, ‘how can I help?’.

“We are not policeman issuing tickets.”

Lowry had a tough third round following the controversy that transpired the day before. Starting the day even to par, his two birdies (on holes 10 and 13) were offset by a pair bogeys (two and 17), but a triple bogey on the par-four 14th left him three over and out of contention heading into the final round.

He was asked on Friday whether it was right that officials made him aware of his potential rule breach before his round was complete.

The incident happened on the 12th hole and Lowry was alerted that something was wrong when he was walking down the 15th fairway.

McLeod said it was a difficult balancing act for the officials.

“Do you not tell him that there’s a potential of a penalty, and he plays out the round one way and finds out he’s incurred a two-stroke penalty and he misses the cut? Or do you tell him early so he can change the course of his round?,” he said.

“That’s why it’s good to have the really experienced rules official making that call.”

When it comes to the major events, McLeod said everything is heightened, including the pressure on rules officials to get their decisions correct.

“The players that come from the big tours are accustomed to stopping when something isn’t right and checking,” he said.

“Because they’re playing for their careers and playing for lots of money, they don’t want to make a mistake, so they’ll get a referee involved to make sure that, if there is an issue, the referee is taking the blame.”

McLeod may be the only person planning to travel directly from the glamour and the prestige of the Open at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland to Royal Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea for the PNG Open.

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