Australasian PGA Tournaments Director, Andrew Langford-Jones has defended criticism from a number of players, including Australia’s Jason Day, that the hot and windy conditions is making parts of the Royal Melbourne course ‘unfair’.

Day cited as an example the 8-iron shots he and playing partner, Graeme McDowell hit into the ninth hole.

“You look at nine, where I landed my ball, my second shot, a little bit further that what I would have liked it to be but it bounced over the green,” he said.

“G Mac landed his just on the green and it bounced and rolled 30 paces by the flag.  So I mean, he was coming in with a short iron so it’s a kind of a little bit unfair.”

However Langford-Jones responded saying:  “The greens staff have had challenges preparing the course for back-to-back tournaments and while the greens have compacted a bit, the Federation of Golf Tour’s view is that the set-up of Royal Melbourne is where we were hoping it would be.

“So I am surprised to hear that some players believe the course is on the brink of unplayable as most players I have spoken to have no complaints.

“So the course is hard. It’s fast and the ‘Old Lady’ is exactly where we want it to be.”