Only thirty golfers or so had a chance to make it off the first tee on Friday morning. After 44 minutes, the siren forced players back to the locker rooms as play was postponed. There was early hope that the golfers would be able to get back on the course Friday afternoon, but all of that ended as rain continued to pour down on the TPC course at Sawgrass. Late in the day officials made the decision to call the second round off completely and try to resume at 7am Saturday morning.
Among the golfers that did tee off early Friday morning was Ernie Els, the third-ranked golfer in the world. He hit his opening drive severely to the right on the first hole and was faced with a bogey putt before play was suspended. The siren could not have come at a better time for the Big Easy. If the lift, clean, and place rules are in effect Saturday morning, all thirty golfers who began their rounds on Friday will get to start over. It’s unlikely the PGA Tour will do so, but the conditions may warrant such a drastic move. Skip Kendall and Joe Ogilvie had rounds of -2 going at the time play was suspended after only three three and two holes played, respectively. It’s safe to say they aren’t hoping for a cancellation of the second round.
The weekend forecast does not look much better. There is a chance for storms on Saturday and Sunday. The Players Championship has not been shortened to 54 holes in its entire 31-year history. The officials have not ruled this option out by any means. There has also been a little talk about having the first-ever PGA Tuesday finish. The main focus right now, however, is just to attempt to finish the second round on Saturday and as much of the third round as possible. If players are unable to get up to 36 holes in on Sunday, a Monday finish is likely.
The other three members of the Big Four combined to hit only one shot on Friday morning. Vijay Singh ripped his opening drive down the fairway on hole number ten, minutes before play was suspended. Neither Tiger Woods nor Phil Mickelson made it to the first tee. All of the Big Four will be looking to move up the leaderboard if they get a chance to play Saturday. Vijay Singh was the only one to have a solid round on Thursday, shooting five-under in the opening round. Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods both posted 70s while Ernie Els posted 71 and currently sits eight strokes off the pace.
The second round is scheduled to resume Saturday morning at 7am. You may be able to watch televised coverage on NBC from 2-6pm ET Saturday and from 1:30-6:30 pm ET on Sunday.
The leaderboard hasn’t changed any since Thursday. Steve Jones remains at eight under followed by a trio at seven under:
Pos Player Tot R1 R2 R3 R4 Tot 1 Steve Jones -8 64 - - - 64 T2 Fred Funk -7 65 - - - 65 T2 Zach Johnson -7 65 - - - 65 T2 Lee Westwood -7 65 - - - 65 T5 Luke Donald -6 66 - - - 66 T5 Sergio Garcia -6 66 - - - 66 T5 J.L. Lewis -6 66 - - - 66 T8 Brett Quigley -5 67 - - - 67 T8 Padraig Harrington -5 67 - - - 67 T8 Bob Estes -5 67 - - - 67 T8 Vijay Singh -5 67 - - - 67 T8 Bob Tway -5 67 - - - 67
Photo Credit: © AP.
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