TWO DAYS AFTER they climbed to the clubhouse lead, Tommy Fleetwood and Tom Hoge were still leading the Players Championship as the first-round concluded amid fierce winds on Saturday.
After torrential rain wreaked havoc for a second straight day on Friday –with a Monday finish already certain for the prestigious $20 million tournament – wind was the biggest challenge facing the elite field as organizers sought to make up time.
Nearly 50 players returned to complete the first round at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, on Saturday morning and found the conditions brutal.
The first nine players to tackle the par-three 17th, with its famed “island green,” played the hole in 10 over par.
Brice Garnett had joined Fleetwood and Hoge at six-under through 13 holes when play was suspended on Friday.
He finished the round at five-under alongside Kramer Hickok, Joaquin Niemann, Keith Mitchell and Anirban Lahiri.
Play resumed on Saturday at noon, an hour later than officials had hoped.
Fleetwood wasn’t scheduled to tee off until after 5:00 pm and Hoge’s 6:28 pm tee time was not long before sunset.
With no guarantee that all players would even start their second rounds on Saturday, officials had already acknowledged that the tournament could finish no earlier than Monday.
Rory McIlroy began his second round this evening and is in a tie for 83rd on even-par at the time of writing.
Seamus Power has also teed off on his second round, and is one-under for the tournament. Though tied for 50th spot, he’s just five shots off the leaders in a quashed leaderboard. Shane Lowry is not expected to tee off for his second round until tomorrow, and he is treading similar waters as McIlroy, in a tie for 83rd.
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– © AFP 2022, additional reporting by Gavin Cooney
