The final round was suspended due to inclement weather for two hours and thirty minutes on Sunday afternoon.
The last thing you want to hear is the horn on the golf course, but that’s precisely what fans at the 2024 RBC Heritage heard on Sunday. Twice.
The final round play at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina was suspended due to inclement weather at 4:28 p.m. ET. The final group featuring tournament leader Scottie Scheffler was in the fairway on the 11th hole when play was called.
On the CBS broadcast, the Tour’s Senior Director, TV rules and review analyst Mark Dusbabek made it clear that play was called due to lightning in the area and not because of the heavy rains that were falling. At 6:30 p.m. ET the final update came that play would resume at 7 p.m. ET, ending a two-and-a-half-hour delay. Less than an hour later at 7:47 p.m. ET the horn sounded to call play for the day due to darkness.
Nine players will return to the course at 8 a.m. ET Monday morning to finish he tournament. Scottie Scheffler, who has won three of his last four starts, holds a five-shot lead with three holes to play.
The tournament will resume at 8 a.m. ET on Monday.
The final round of the 2024 Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, was heavily delayed by inclement weather in the area, so much so that the first event of the Florida Swing will feature a Monday finish.
Play was suspended due to lightning in the area at 12:49 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoon and the course quickly became unplayable after a downpour of rain flooded greens and fairways.
The three players tied for the lead at 13 under – Shane Lowry, Austin Eckroat and David Skinns – were about 50 minutes away from starting the round when play was stopped.
The practice range was re-opened shortly after 3 p.m. ET and golfers returned to the course at 4:20 p.m. ET. At 6:23 p.m. ET, the horn blew for the final time Sunday night with Eckroat atop the leaderboard at 15 under through seven holes.
Mother Nature was the only thing keeping Erik van Rooyen from making birdies in Sunday’s final round as the 34-year-old South African started his round with six consecutive birdies before adding two more on Nos. 8 and 10 to move into the lead at 14 under before play was stopped. Van Rooyen shot a tournament-record 7-under 28 on the front nine and posted a 63 to get to 14 under. He’s in solo second.
Golf Channel and Peacock will have live final-round coverage on Monday starting at 8 a.m. ET.
The last Monday finish at the Cognizant was in 2015, when Padraig Harrington beat Daniel Berger in a playoff. The delayed finish may also impact Monday’s star-studded Pro-Member at Seminole Golf Club in nearby Juno Beach, Florida.
Sustained winds of 35-40 miles per hour and gusts of more than 60 mph forced the hand of organizers.
The final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am was canceled due to inclement weather and safety concerns. Rain fell Sunday morning and although it slowed a little later in the day, sustained winds of 35-40 miles per hour and gusts of more than 60 mph forced the hand of organizers. Wyndham Clark was given the trophy after his 54-hole effort.
Due to moderate rain, preferred lies were in effect during all three rounds of the tournament. All week long, the weather forecast called for high winds on Sunday that threatened to push the tournament to a Monday finish and so Clark approached Saturday’s third round as if it could be the final round and with a sense of now-or-never to make a move.
“I think I deserve a soda after today, maybe some cookies, some kind of candy.”
POTOMAC, Md. — Playing in the morning’s fifth group, Max Homa was shocked his threesome finished their second round at the 2022 Wells Fargo Championship. He even told his caddie before the round he thought they’d only play eight holes due to the weather.
“I’m just happy to be done,” said Homa, one of just 11 players from the Friday morning wave to shoot under par.
The three-time PGA Tour winner battled the elements to tie for the low round of the day despite heavy and consistent rain, signing for a 4-under 66 to match the efforts of Luke List and Chad Ramey. Homa now sits in solo second at 7 under behind first-round leader Jason Day, who extended his lead to three shots at 10 under after a 3-under 67 at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm, this year’s Wells Fargo host while Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina, prepares for the Presidents Cup in September.
“Yeah, Jason and I have been talking about it for like two and a half hours, that we can’t wait for it to be done and kick our feet up,” Homa said after the round. “I know he’s got his bus here so he’s going to go hang on the bus. I’m going to go sit on my bed and I think I deserve a soda after today, maybe some cookies, some kind of candy, I don’t know. I’m going to kick my feet up.”
Instead of dreading the downpours, Ramey was embracing them.
“I just honestly try to embrace the conditions because I know there’s going to be a lot of guys out here that hate it. It just is what it is,” said the winner of the 2022 Corales Puntacana Championship. “As long as I can embrace the conditions and keep my mind right, I feel like I’m ahead of half the field.”
In 18 events this season, Ramey has made eight cuts and missed 10, finishing in the top 10 twice at the Puerto Rico Open in March, followed by his win three weeks later in Puntacana.
“It’s nice to be able to get in at 10 under through two rounds, especially with what kind of weather we’ve got coming in on the weekend,” added Day, noting how he loves to grind it out in tough conditions. “I’m looking forward to it. It’s nice to be back in the mix, nice to be leading. It’s still two more days left, so I can’t get too far ahead of myself.”
The former world No. 1 said something similar about managing expectations after he took the lead on Thursday, and that patience will be a useful 15th club with inclement weather in the forecast for the rest of the weekend. The Weather Channel is calling for overnight rain on Friday, with 10-15 mph winds and a 90% chance of rain on Saturday.
Here’s what you need to know for Saturday at TPC Sawgrass.
It’s been, let’s just say, a slow start to the 2022 Player Championship at TPC Sawgrass. Heavy rain, wind, and thunderstorms have rolled into the Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, area over the last several days, flooding the golf course to a point that play was stopped Friday due to unplayable conditions.
The PGA Tour announced at 3 p.m. ET that play was canceled for the day and the earliest it will re-start is Saturday at 11 a.m. A massive storm system is set to hover above the course from 8 – 10 a.m. Saturday.
Due to all the delays, there have been many changes made to the schedule, both playing and TV. Here’s an update for Saturday at the Players.
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When does play resume?
The first round is scheduled to resume at 11:00 a.m. ET on Saturday, at the earliest. There are 47 players who still have to finish their first rounds.
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What does the weather look like?
There is a severe system set to hit the area from 8 a.m. – 10 a.m. After that, the wind is expected to be in the mid-teens throughout the rest of the day while the heavy rain subsides.
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Who’s playing well?
Tommy Fleetwood and Tom Hoge were joined by Brice Garnett at the top of the leaderboard Friday, however, Garnett is through just 13 holes of his opening round. Daniel Berger also played well after the re-start, sitting at 5-under through 16.
How to watch
You can watch Golf Channel for free on fuboTV. ESPN+ is the exclusive home for PGA Tour Live streaming. NBC Sports will have the weekend network TV coverage. All times Eastern.
*All times subject to change based on the start of play.
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Here’s what you need to know for a soggy Friday at TPC Sawgrass.
Mother Nature shook up the schedule at the 2022 Players Championship, dumping rain on the PGA Tour’s parade leading up to and during Thursday’s opening round.
According to the Tour, 1.3 inches of rain fell overnight at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, which put preferred lies into play and moved tee times back an hour due to “overnight rain and area thunderstorms.”
Another .45 inches fell during a 4 hour, 14 minute suspension of play due to more dangerous weather in the area. Play was then suspended due to darkness at 6:36 p.m. ET with the majority of the field yet to finish.
So what does that mean for Friday and the rest of the weekend? Here’s what you need to know.
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When does play resume?
The first round is scheduled to resume at 7:15 a.m. ET on Friday, with the first wave of second-round tee times scheduled to start sometime between 11 a.m.-1 p.m. ET.
Sixty-nine of the 72 players in the morning wave finished their first round. The group of Hank Lebioda, Henrik Norlander and Taylor Pendrith was the lone trio to not finish. On the flip side, 60 of 72 players in the afternoon wave began their first round.
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What does the weather look like?
On the positive side, Thursday night should be pretty clear. On the negative side, Friday doesn’t look great.
Sourcing PGA Tour Meteorologist Wayne Stettner, Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis said they’re expecting “anywhere from three quarters of an inch to an inch and a quarter of rain on Friday,” with thunderstorms and potentially damaging winds expected Saturday (plus an additional half-inch to an inch of rain).
A clean-shaven Tommy Fleetwood shares the lead with Tom Hoge after each fired 6-under 66s on Thursday. Kramer Hickok, Joaquin Niemann, Keith Mitchell and Anirban Lahiri are all T-3 at 5 under. Harold Varner III shot a 69 despite a triple-bogey 6 on the famed par-3 17th hole. He’s in a group that’s T-11 after the first day.
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Before noon ET the PGA Tour’s flagship event had already been delayed twice by weather.
And now we wait.
Inclement weather was in the forecast leading up to Thursday’s first round of the 2022 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, but there was optimism for a Sunday finish.
Before noon ET, the PGA Tour’s flagship event had already been delayed twice by weather.
At 5:35 a.m. ET the PGA Tour Communications Twitter account shared that opening round tee times would be “delayed by one hour due to overnight rain and area thunderstorms” and that preferred lies would be in effect.
The first round began at 7:45 a.m. ET before the horn blew at 11 a.m. ET “due to dangerous weather in the area.”
The weather forecast looks rough for the competitive rounds of The Players. How will that affect the weekend?
The weather forecast for this week at The Players Championship looks dire but PGA Tour meteorologist on duty this week at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, Wade Stettner, is taking the optimistic approach.
“I think they’ll be able to play some golf every day,” he said. “The rainfall amounts we think we’re going to see don’t look like they would be heavy enough to make the course unplayable, given the fact that the drainage is so good and they’ve got the technology to take moisture out of the greens.”
But what will stop the competition in its tracks after the tournament begins on Thursday is lightning — dangerous to players, fans, volunteers and tournament staff.
“Lightning is what will require them to pull everyone off,” he said.
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Some players were already groaning.
“I don’t like rain,” said Paul Casey. “There’s a reason I moved from England to Arizona.”
And some were, well, like ducks to water.
“I grew up in Scotland,” said Russell Knox. “I hope it blows 25 [mph] and pours rain.”
Defending champion Justin Thomas said that if conditions come as advertised, especially on the weekend, it will be interesting.
“When you get wind and cold temperatures like that, it’s just a different animal,” he said about the course. “It’s really just a survival-type thing.”
But he was hopeful.
“At the end of the day, weather people are wrong all the time,” he said. “There’s no reason getting too wrapped up in it.”
Rain moves into Ponte Vedra Beach during the third round of The Players Championship.
The Players at least had Monday and Tuesday, with the sun out and temperatures touching 80 degrees. Almost all of them were taking advantage of the Tour policy that allows shorts during practice rounds.
Stettner said fans should still plan on coming to the golf course on the days they have tickets. Weather warnings will be issued well before any dangerous conditions exist and evacuation plans will begin.
But after the warm and sunny conditions of the past week — and a dry winter — typically crazy March weather appears to be coming. The forecast on Tuesday for Wednesday is a 50 percent chance of rain, going up to 80 percent on Thursday and 90 percent on Friday. Temperatures will at least be in the 70s on those days.
“I think the worst of it will be Friday,” Stettner said.
He’s also not prepared to predict the possibility of a Monday finish, which hasn’t happened on the PGA Tour since The Northern Trust last August at Liberty National in New Jersey — a span of 21 events.
“If we can get through two rounds and make the cut, the rules officials can put the players in threesomes with split tees [going off Nos. 1 and 10],” he said. “At this point, I don’t see any reason we can’t finish on Sunday.”
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Saturday will see some clearing, but it will make way for lower temperatures and brisk wind out of the north. Sunday’s forecast is mostly sunny but fans should bundle up: the current prediction is for a high of 54, which could make it the coldest day in tournament history. Winds will be out of the Northeast at around 10 mph.
After little to no rain for most of the winter, Stettner said the coming wet stuff is courtesy of a front that will stall over Northeast Florida. The Tour has also played most of its events on the Western Swing, then at the Honda Classic and the Palmer Invitational, under superb conditions.
“It’s been beautiful weather,” Knox said. “Amazing … we were definitely due [for rain and wind].”
If the tournament has to go to a Monday finish, which hasn’t happened since 2005, it might be the best day of the week: 67 degrees and little chance of rain.
What is offering optimism is the nature of the playing surface given a wholesale renovation in 2006 and several touchups since then. In addition to adding sandy soil that promotes better drainage, the Tour has a system under the greens that draws moisture from the putting surface at the whim of agronomy director Jeff Plotts.
It’s why the tournament was able to finish on Sunday despite weekend downpours in 2011, 2013 and 2014.
The last Monday finish was the result of perhaps the worst weather over an entire tournament week in Players history. After a perfect first round, the entire second round was lost because of rain, and play was interrupted on Saturday and Sunday as well.
Most of the third round and all of the fourth round was finished on Monday, and came close to having to finish on Tuesday.
As of 11:26 a.m. CT, rain is pounding players and spectators at the AT&T Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch.
MCKINNEY, Texas — As of 11:26 a.m. CT, rain is pounding players and spectators at the AT&T Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch, but according to local weather forecasts, the storm should blow through quickly.
K.H. Lee has a lead over Patton Kizzire, Seamus Power, Sam Burns and others on the final day. Play started early today due to the expected storm, so even a delay could allow the round to be finished at a reasonable time in the afternoon.
A line of storms is pelting much of North Texas at this hour, but Weather.com radar shows a single line that should pass.
(Courtesy Weather.com)
The chance for rain in the early afternoon drops to 17 percent, so unless the course becomes unplayable, the round should be finished on Sunday.
The Tour announced midway through Saturday’s third round that players would go off in threesomes off Nos. 1 and 10. The forecast shook up plans so much that CBS Sports’ final-round coverage is being streamed live from 12-3 p.m. ET on the websites for CBS Sports and the PGA Tour. CBS is scheduled to show final-round replay coverage from 3 to 6 p.m. Golf Channel had the live TV coverage Sunday morning.
A combination of a heavy marine layer and smoke and ash turned the sky into something out of the movie Apocalypse Now.
NAPA, Calif. – Based on the weather forecast, you might not want to “bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, there’ll be sun.”
PGA Tour pros woke up to one of the strangest skies in recent memory, a heavy marine-layer mixed with smoke and ash that was straight out of “Apocalypse Now.” The bright lights still were shining at the driving range at 10 a.m., as the sky turned brilliant shades of yellow and orange.
“Just strange. I mean, waking up and it was like the sun just wouldn’t come up today it felt like. It was dark for a long time,” Jim Furyk said. “When there was a touch of light, the sky’s just been a really awkward yellowish-grayish color. There was about a 20-minute window this morning where it was quite red, where you couldn’t really grab a picture of it on your phone, but I saw one of the photographers show me and a couple players the camera work that he got out of it and it was stunning actually. The picture was quite impressive. But it’s been — it just hasn’t felt real, that’s the best — a little bit like you’re on a movie set, to be honest with you.”
It felt like the movie set for a re-make of “Mars Attacks.” The iPhone forecast called the weather here “smoke,” and ash floated in the air and left a thin film in the Silverado Resort swimming pool. The air smelled like a campfire, and the temperature dropped more than 30 degrees from triple digits to barely cracking 70 degrees.
Wildfires are raging throughout Northern California in parts of Fresno and Big Sur as well as parts of Oregon and Washington. It was just a few weeks ago that destructive blazes near populated areas of wine country threatened the viability of hosting the tournament.
Sergio Garcia compared the sky to playing in the Australian Open in December, when bushfires near Sydney caused havoc and complaints of burning eyes and coughing fits.
“It’s very similar to that. I guess it was a little bit dark throughout the day today, but it’s kind of like a combination of clouds and smoke and, you know, a little bit of ash and stuff,” Garcia said. “But, you know, they’re saying that the winds are supposed to kind of change, start from the south and it should blow all of these away and then it will be fine. But today was definitely a little bit cooler than it’s been and a little bit darker throughout the practice round.”
Kevin Chappell, who hails from Fresno, had similar fires on his mind, although they’re burning southeast of Napa. He pledged to pony up $250 for every birdie and $500 for any eagle made this week to the Red Cross Creek Fire fund, which he announced via social media.
