The final two rounds are scheduled for Sunday. The cut will be to the number nearest 60 rather than the low 70s and ties, although all players in the top 70 will get credit for making the cut and will get a share of the purse.
“You don’t come here expecting this,” defending champion Ryan Palmer said. “You come here expecting to get in the water and get a tan. It’s unfortunate for Sony and this great tournament.”
It’s the first time for Waialae to have an entire day of play postponed since it began hosting a PGA TOUR event in 1965.
Finishing the tournament on Sunday is key, since next week’s tournament, the Bob Hope Classic, is a 90-hole event that starts Wednesday. A Monday finish in Hawaii would eliminate or at least limit the opportunity for players also in the Hope field from seeing any of the courses before their tee times.
“Hopefully we’ll finish by 5:30 (p.m.), quarter to six on Sunday night,” said Mark Russell, the PGA TOUR’s vice president of rules, competition and administration. (That would be 10:30 p.m-11 p.m. ET.)
The heavy rains that hit Oahu soaked the Waialae course to the point that tournament officials deemed it unplayable. Rain also wiped out Wednesday’s pro-am.
Nearly four inches fell in the area around the course. Other parts of Oahu received as much as 10 inches of rain during a 24-hour period. The entire state of Hawaii was under a flash flood watch.
“The golf course is under water,” Russell said. “We’ve got some more rain coming, and we just didn’t think that we could get it in tournament condition today.”
Although rain remained in the forecast for Thursday, it is not expected to be as severe as Wednesday night’s rains.
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