For about as long as anyone can remember, the Open Championship has afforded caddies a luxury that they’ll find at few, if any, other golf tournaments: a resident raker in every group who removes the burden of bunker maintenance from the loopers and places it on a fleet of volunteers handpicked by the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA).
Count Paul Tesori among the many caddies who approved of the program.
Tesori, who was on Webb Simpson’s bag for many years before more recent stints with Cameron Young and Tom Kim, gushed about the rakers when he caddied for Simpson at the last Open Championship at Royal Portrush, in 2019.
“My favorite choice that @TheOpen makes each year is to have local players rake the bunkers for each group,” Tesori tweeted at the time. “It speeds up play and helps keep us older guys moving quicker.”
Younger guys, too, because no matter your physical condition, bunker-raking on links courses — especially pot-bunker raking — is nothing short of an art form. The volunteer rakers, most of whom were superintendents at courses around the U.K., were reminded of this in the lead-up to the Open at Royal Troon last year, when Conor Finlay, who is the R&A rules manager, and Gary Ross, Troon’s deputy course manager, conducted a bunker-raking clinic for the group.
“Ideally,” Finlay said toward the beginning of the masterclass (which you can watch here), “when we’re in a fairway bunker we’re looking for lines going down the line of play, just down the line of the hole, and greenside bunkers would be looking for your rake line just to go to the center of the green.”
The demonstration went on for another 10 minutes, with Ross down in the bunker wielding a wooden rake with enviable deftness.
This year, though, the R&A has reversed course and handed raking duties back to the caddies. Asked about the policy shift at the Open on Wednesday, new R&A chief Mark Darbon provided little detail.
“It’s a change for us but we think a good one,” he said.
But why the change?
“A number of factors,” he said. “We just think it’s a good model for us here at Portrush.”
Jim Croxton, who is BIGGA’s chief executive officer, was more forthcoming.
When reached by GOLF.com on Wednesday, Croxton said by email, “The R&A informed us in 2024 that they intended to return to the traditional championship practice of caddies raking bunkers with effect from the 2025 Championship. Naturally we respect that decision.”
Croxton added: ”With the growth of on-site greenkeeping teams, as well as the R&A providing top class agronomy support, the requirement for the additional Support Team has lessened; in recent years this team was only responsible for match raking.”
Croxton said the decision might also have been motivated by the R&A’s desire to “reduce the number of people ‘inside the ropes’ with groups to improve the spectator and TV experience.”
To the best of Croxton’s knowledge, the last Open at which caddies were charged with raking was at the 1985 edition at Royal St. George’s.
Croxton stressed that despite the pause on resident bunker rakers, BIGGA’s relationship with the R&A remains strong, specifically by way of the R&A Championship Agronomy Program, which annually gives 10 BIGGA members the chance to work with grounds crews at UK-based R&A events.
On X, eight-time PGA Tour winner Billy Horschel called the absence of designated rakers “such a disappointment,” adding, “I know the caddies love them, as well as the players. Very odd decision by the @TheOpen not to have them.”
