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Golf-Gridlock at Open after child picks up player's ball

By Martyn Herman ST ANDREWS, Scotland, July 16 (Reuters) - The British Open suffered temporary gridlock on Thursday after a child spectator picked up a ball belonging to American JB Holmes when it landed in a bush. Holmes, part of the 13th trio to go out at St Andrews, hit his ball into a gorse bush on the 15th and spent more than 10 minutes getting a ruling on "light of sight" relief after the young fan moved it. The lengthy hold-up meant the group playing behind was eventually allowed to play through while tournament favourite Jordan Spieth's trio had to wait in cool and breezy conditions -- stretching their rounds to the five-hour mark. "You would think most spectators would know not to pick up balls," Holmes, 33, told reporters. "He was a kid. I'm sure he was excited and thought he found a ball. I'm not saying I might not have done that too, when I was that age. I'll have to move on and go play out tomorrow." Charl Schwartzel, who carded a 67 when playing in the group behind Holmes, said the situation had been confusing. "We weren't sure what was going on, but it took them about 10 minutes before they called us to hit, and then we went through," he said. "It's not nice to stand around when it's that cold waiting to play." Several holes share greens on the 7,297-yard St Andrews lay-out, adding to the congestion and with bad weather forecast on Friday, Spieth says rounds could take even longer. "If today took a little over five hours, tomorrow might take a little over six," he said. "It's tough when you stand on those tees and you have to wait for two groups to play and then you've got to hit a tee shot into a small area with the wind whipping into you from the left. It definitely makes it more challenging because you want to just keep it in the groove." (Editing by Ed Osmond)