Tag: Hurricane Henri

PGA Tour hopes to finish Northern Trust at Liberty National on Monday. But what if it can’t?

The Tour hopes to finish the Northern Trust on Monday, and has a plan if weather intervenes.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – The PGA Tour isn’t far from the bright lights of Broadway this week, and so as the saying goes, the show must go on.

The final round of the Northern Trust at Liberty National Golf Club was postponed until Monday due to Henri, which flipped back and forth from Tropical Storm to category 1 Hurricane status before making landfall on Sunday near Rhode Island and bringing heavy rain and 40-mile-an-hour winds as it weakened.

Central Park in Manhattan was doused with record rainfall and many New Jersey residents are without power, but the Tour officials hope to complete play on Monday despite a forecast that calls for another “drenching rain.”

Tee times were released late Sunday afternoon with players being sent off both nines in threesomes. The first tee time of the day is set for 7:30 a.m. ET, though veteran Tour pro Lee Westwood isn’t so sure that will be doable.

Northern Trust: Scores | Photos | Get to know Liberty National

PGA Tour rules official John Mutch expressed a more sunny outlook despite the flash flood warnings in the area.

“Really good for 5 inches of rain,” Mutch told ESPN of Liberty National, which was built on a landfill and has a SubAir system beneath the greens. “They were working on the bunkers when I was there. There’s not a whole lot of standing water. I was pleased. I’ve seen a lot worse.”

When the third round ended, Smith had caught Rahm at 16-under 197 with a course-record 60. South Africa’s van Rooyen shot 62 to trail by one stroke in third. He’s one of five players projected to move into the top 70 of the FedEx Cup point standings and advance to the BMW Championship, which begins Thursday in Baltimore. Should he fail to be on the right side of the cutline, he’s slated to head to Switzerland for the Omega European Masters.

The forecast is dicey, with continued rain through Sunday night and into Monday. If less than half the field tees off for the final round, the tournament could be shortened to 54 holes and a sudden-death playoff between Rahm and Smith, who both missed birdie putts at 18, would determine a victor. That scenario has happened in the past such as when Tiger Woods won the 1997 Tournament of Champions and Phil Mickelson edged Gary Nicklaus at the 2005 BellSouth Classic.

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Potential Hurricane Henri could threaten PGA Tour’s Northern Trust with landfall Sunday

Henri is predicted to grow to hurricane strength and make landfall Sunday east of Liberty National in New Jersey.

The PGA Tour’s first FedEx Cup Playoff event, the Northern Trust, is near the western edge of the projected cone for Tropical Storm Henri, which is predicted to become a hurricane before it reaches landfall Sunday morning.

The National Hurricane Center reported Friday morning that Henri was several hundred miles off the coast of Georgia and moving north with sustained winds of 55 mph and gusts reaching 65.

The forecasted track has the center of the storm reaching landfall Sunday afternoon. Tropical storm winds are predicted to arrive Saturday night. The projected cone stretches from Long Island to Maine and is likely to shift one way or another as the storm approaches land.

The Northern Trust is at Liberty National in New Jersey, sitting tight to the water just across the bay from New York and the Statue of Liberty. The PGA Tour has not yet announced any schedule change for the tournament.

A combination of storm surge, damaging winds and heavy rain could bring serious damage from Henri.

The surge along Long Island and up into Rhode Island could reach 2 to 4 feet, while the Jersey Shore could see 1 to 3 feet of surge, the National Hurricane Center said. Winds were up to 65 mph as it was spinning about 800 miles south-southwest of Nantucket, Massachusetts, as of Friday morning.

Rainfall of 2 to 5 inches was expected in southern New England, with some isolated patches of up to 8 inches, possibly causing flash flooding.

Much of the eastern part of Long Island and coastal Connecticut and Rhode Island were under hurricane watches, while the coast closer to New York City was under a tropical storm watch.

“Everybody along the Long Island area and New York City needs to be watching,” said Da’Vel Johnson, a National Weather Service meteorologist in New York.

If Henri disrupts the tournament, it won’t be the first time. In 2011, Hurricane Irene made landfall and forced the cancellation of the final round of the Barclays, as the tournament was then known. It was then played at Plainfield Country Club in N.J., and the event was abbreviated after 54 holes with Dustin Johnson the winner. Plainfield was flooded in that storm.

Henri follows on the heels of Tropical Storm Fred, which made landfall in Florida earlier this week before moving Northeast and drenching several states along its path to the northeast. USA TODAY reported that North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency after Fred caused flooding and left two people dead with 17 missing.