R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers has warned that weather delays at the AIG Women’s Open are "a risk" because of the strong winds forecasted at St Andrews.
Links golf always provides a unique test for players, with the weather for this week's AIG Women's Open set to make the Home of Golf an even tougher challenge.
There has been a mixture of sunshine, heavy rain showers and strong gusts for the practice rounds ahead of the tournament, although conditions are set to worsen when play officially gets under way on Thursday.
The latest weather forecast issued by the R&A on Wednesday morning - provided by the Met Office - warned of "strong and gusty winds for day one of the championships", with Slumbers insisting they are doing everything possible to try and get the first round played as scheduled.
"The Met Office, who help us here, have been forecasting this for a while now," Slumbers said in his pre-tournament press conference. "We have slowed the golf course down quite a bit.
"We've raised the height of cut on the greens and we've put a bit of water on them to help them grow a little bit. We've got some pretty good ideas about where we can put the pins to actually protect it as much as we possibly can.
"Most importantly, we will set it up in a way that the players can play. The good news is the wind is forecast all four days to come from pretty much the same quadrant, so we know where we can put the pins to give them some room.
"There is a risk that we'll have delays in play tomorrow [Thursday], but we'll deal with that. I think the best players in the world want a bit of a hard challenge. I just hope it doesn't blow so hard that we can't play."
How bad is the forecast?
Gusts of 30-35 miles per hour are expected around the time the opening round gets under way at 7am, then are expected to decrease briefly before getting stronger again as the day progresses.
The forecast warned that sustained winds of 23-28mph are expected for large parts of the opening round and there could be gusts of 45mph, which raises the possibility of potential disruption to play.
"This is pretty high winds for us," Slumbers added. "I think this is at the top end. I think we'll all be pleased to get through tomorrow [Thursday]. We will do everything we can on the golf course to make it playable.
"We'll keep the girls playing for as long as we possibly can, but there is the integrity of the whole championship front and centre in our minds."
Strong winds have previously caused delays to majors at St Andrews, with The Open in 2015 dragged into a Monday finish because of a lengthy suspension on the third day.
The last time the AIG Women's Open was held at St Andrews was 2013, when the strength of the wind saw play suspended on the Saturday and left the leaders playing 36 holes on Sunday for the tournament to finish as scheduled.
Speaking about the varying elements players could face this week, Gemma Dryburgh said in her pre-tournament press conference: "You get the good after the draw sometimes and not-so-good the other half. Hopefully I'll be lucky this week and, if not, you just try and do your best.
"Obviously the wind looks like it's going to be even stronger this week [than last week's ISPS Handa Women's Scottish Open]. Hopefully it will stay dry!"
There's potential for further strong winds on Friday afternoon, after rain earlier in the day, with the forecast currently suggesting a mixed bag of sunny spells, showers and more gusty conditions.
Who will win the AIG Women's Open? Watch all four rounds live this week on Sky Sports! Live coverage of the opening round begins Thursday at midday on Sky Sports Golf. Stream the women's majors and more sport with NOW.
