INZAI: The second round of the US PGA Tour’s inaugural Zozo Championship in Japan was postponed on Friday because of heavy rain with Tiger Woods and Gary Woodland leading the 78-player event.
Officials made the decision half an hour before the scheduled 7am start after overnight showers turned heavy with forecasts of up to 130 millimetres rain falling
over the next 24 hours at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club.
The second round will now be played on Saturday, with a 6:30am start time, followed by the third round.
“The golf course has already taken on four-tenths of an inch of rain, so it has actually reached the point of saturation and it’s become unplayable,” said Gary Young, US PGA Tour vice-president of rules and competitions.
“With more rain in the forecast and three to five inches of rain for the day, we thought the right decision was to call (off) play.”
Golfers will stay in the same threeball groupings for the third round, which will begin immediately after completion of the second round, and continue until dusk Saturday at around 5.30pm.
“In our planning, that should leave us with approximately two hours of golf to complete on Sunday morning,” Young added.
The groups will be re-formed for Sunday’s fourth round, with leaders going out last at around 9am if there are no further delays. – AFP
