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LPGA Tour Championship Slashed to 54 Holes
Rain continues to wreak havoc on the season-ending LPGA Tour Championship at Houstonian Golf and Country Club in Texas.
Since over an inch of precipitation fell on the course Friday and Saturday, at 1:00 p.m. Saturday tour officials deemed the venue unplayable. "The conditions on the golf course then were the worse we've seen all day," said Doug Brecht, the LPGA vice president of rules and competition.
The revised schedule calls for the second round to resume at 8 a.m. Sunday, and for the third and final rounds to begin at 7 a.m. Monday with a mid-afternoon finish. The 116-player field will be cut to the top 70 competitors (plus ties) for Monday's final 18 holes.
After a six-hour rain delay on Friday, which saw some players starting - but not completing - their rounds, officials hoped to wrap up the tournament by Sunday. Forecasts predicted slight rain overnight that would end by 8 a.m. Saturday, but they were wrong.
Lorena Ochoa, who opened with a 6-under 66 Thursday, still sits atop the leaderboard. The Mexican star, who's seeking her fourth straight Player of the Year award with a victory in the LPGA's final major of the year, has a one-stroke lead over Reilley Rankin and two shots ahead of Taylor Leon.
About half the field played parts of their second rounds Friday - Ochoa, Rankin and Leon never teed off - with Sophie Gustafson (who finished 11 holes) moving into a tie with Leon at 4-under.
"We have a schedule for the rest of this event with an approximate start time of 8:00 in the morning for those players who have already begun their round and are on the golf course; with those that haven't started starting at 8:20," added Brecht.
"The rest of the field will then tee off, and we will finish round two tomorrow, make a cut to the low 70 and ties, and play round three on Monday, starting approximately 7:00 in the morning with an approximate finish time on Monday being 2:00.
"[We] plan on making another course visit this afternoon somewhere between 4:00 and 5:00 and see if conditions have improved, gotten worst, whatever the case may be, and then have a further update as far as the feasibility of trying to start at 8:00 in the morning, if we can still hold to that time at that point or if we need to make an adjustment to that."
In explaining the cut, Brecht said: "We considered cutting to 30 and ties. Our regulations even give us the latitude of cutting to 60 and ties. Again, looking at what golf course we have right now, what the forecast is, it's forecasted for - probably seeing some sun for the rest of the day today and sun all day Sunday and Monday, we've got plenty of times to let 70 and ties come and finish this event. In the best interest of what the LPGA is trying to accomplish with all the factors being considered, we felt like that was the best route and avenue for us to take."
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