PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA (AP) — Tom Hoge and Sam Burns finally headed out for the third round of The Players Championship just after 5 p.m. ET, right around the time people in this part of the South eat “supper,” and less than an hour shy of the tournament’s initial scheduled completion at TPC Sawgrass.
With the event’s eighth Monday finish nearing, the tandem was putting the pieces of a broken week back together. Seven of the eight Monday finales were staged in March (the 1974 Players was held in September), but that’s armchair entertainment for another day.
When the PGA Tour moved its marquee event back to March in 2019, cold fronts, torrential rain, and blustery winds were expected, but the worst-case scenarios probably didn’t include the multiple days of near-washout conditions that led Hoge and Burns – along with Harold Varner III in the day’s final three-ball – to their twilight tee time.
Paul Casey specified, “the last three, four days.” “At a tournament, I don’t think I’ve ever had two full days off.” What would I use to describe it? It’s been strange.”
Strange works.
Weather delays and Monday finishes aren’t uncommon on the Tour. As strange as it was to spend two days at the Sawgrass Marriott, the bigger concern after four days of rain and wind was an unlucky draw.
The early-late wave had a noticeable advantage due to the way the delays and suspensions fell, with most from that side of the draw finishing their opening rounds on a relatively warm and windless Thursday.
The late-early side of the draw, on the other hand, spent the next three days catching up and enduring three unique seasons (fall, winter and spring).
“This morning’s 15-20 mph winds haven’t materialized.” And [while] 2 [over] might yet make it, I’m surprised it hasn’t been cut yet,” Lee Westwood tweeted early Saturday. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such a large difference between morning and afternoon waves.”
The early-late wave had a noticeable advantage due to the way the delays and suspensions fell, with most from that side of the draw finishing their opening rounds on a relatively warm and windless Thursday.
The late-early side of the draw, on the other hand, spent the next three days catching up and enduring three unique seasons (fall, winter and spring).
“This morning’s 15-20 mph winds haven’t materialized.” And [while] 2 [over] might yet make it, I’m surprised it hasn’t been cut yet,” Lee Westwood tweeted early Saturday. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such a large difference between morning and afternoon waves.”
Seven players at 2 over par made the cut, including world No. 5 Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, owing to Scott Piercy’s terrible finish, which included a quadruple-bogey 7 at the island-green 17th and a bogey at the 18th.
Of the 71 players that made the cut, 44 were from the early-late wave, who were spared from playing in Saturday’s storm, which had steady winds of 25 mph and gusts of 35 mph. When the second round completed, just one player from the late wave, Doug Ghim, was still in the top 15.
“There are good drawings and bad draws. I’ve had my fair share of duds. “I’m sure I had my fair number of nice ones, but you never remember those; you always grumble about the terrible ones,” Tommy Fleetwood, one of the early-late lucky, laughed. “We’ve had it incredible over the past two days, and I consider myself quite fortunate.” It’s wonderful to take advantage of the situation.”
The program will resume Monday morning at 8 a.m. with the final group on the 10th tee. When the horn blew just after the official sundown, Anirban Lahiri had taken up the lead with six birdies over his first 11 holes. For the fourth day in a row, players shuffled off the course with no real closure apparent reason.
When asked to sum up his day, Casey answered, “Long.” “It began in the dark and ended in the dark. “However, productive.”
When play resumes, nine players will be inside three shots of the lead, including major champion Francesco Molinari (three shots back) and Casey Carrington (four shots back) (two back). Round 3 will be completed, then the leaders will be sent off for a 6:30 p.m. conclusion. As far as plans go, it’s a success.
The week began with Tour commissioner Jay Monahan telling both the Saudi-backed super golf league and Phil Mickelson that this is the Tour’s home, followed by Tiger Woods’ induction into the Hall of Fame. After months of distractions, the stage was finally prepared for the game to become the primary event — not those who wanted to disrupt the existing quo or those who wanted to profit from the incursion. The largest purse in golf – $20 million – and the most relentless TPC have one more day to deliver after four brutally challenging days.
