Monday finish at Conway Farms

    Writing from Lake Forest, Illinois
    Sunday, September 15, 2013

    They played. They stopped. They squeegeed.
    Rinse and repeat.
    But don’t think of drying out, because that was impossible on Sunday at Conway Farms Golf Club. The final round of the 110th Western Open / BMW Championship, expected to be played for the most part in a light rain, was instead interrupted twice by downpours, and the second of them halted festivities for the day.
    That’s not unusual in golf – especially this season on the PGA Tour, where the opening Tournament of Champions didn’t finish until Tuesday – but it was unfortunate. Aside from having 70 players primed and ready to go, untold thousands likely decided to sit at home and click their remotes between the golf and the Bears, rather than navigate – and we use the term literally – the now-muddy spectator areas at posh Conway.
    Two rain delays totaling 5 hours 3 minutes before play was called for the day kept the final 11 groups, and all the leaders, was taking to the course.
    Play resumes Monday at 8 a.m., weather permitting. Leader Jim Furyk, at 13-under-par 200, and chaser Steve Stricker, at 12-under 201, will tee off at 9:40 a.m., the last to start their rounds.
    Sunday tickets will be honored and tickets will be sold at the gate at the usual $55 price. Parking lots and the free shuttle from the Lake Forest Metra station will be in operation, as well as some hospitality areas.
    There was a reasonably good gallery on the course despite the light rain that had been falling since about 6 a.m. when play began at 7:15, Charley Hoffman and Scott Piercy starting the parade. But the rain began to get harder at times, and after several downpours, the horn stopping play blew at 10 a.m sharp. The third green was taking on casual water.
    “We had a forecast of a half-inch of rain over a six-hour period,” said PGA Tour rules and  operations VP Slugger White, explaining there appeared to be no need to switch to a two-tee start. “It was raining when I got here. We didn’t get concerned until about 6:30, quarter to seven.”
    The rain came in two main waves. Play resumed at 1:01 p.m. after the cleanup for the first one, but the hardest deluge of the day hit at 2:26 p.m., and two minutes into it, play was suspended again. This one flooded the ninth, 10th and 12th fairways, not to mention the third green again. The downpour wasn’t long, but it was effective.
    “We looked at 4 p.m., and it wasn’t even close to what it was at 1:30 p.m.,” White said.
    The ground was saturated, with nowhere for the water to go. But little rain is expected between now and tomorrow morning, perhaps only a rogue shower.
    While the rain pelted down, players lolled about the locker room. Football games were a distraction, with the Bears on the big screen and others on a DirecTV-equipped iPad.
    “There were a lot of good NFL games on,” Furyk said. “I’m anxious to get out there and play, as if everyone else, but the good news is no one wants to go out and play in this and slop it around on a golf course where we’re playing the ball down and it’s probably a little too wet out there.”
    Said Stricker, “I think we got the better end of the deal by not even playing in it. But I wish we could have got it in.”
    Zach Johnson was among the 64 players dealing with the practicalities of it.
    “When should we eat our next meal, trying to figure out hotel reservations, do I need to change my flight,” Johnson said. “All those scenarios are popping up. Just something you roll with.
    “I certainly feel bad for the WGA and BMW because it’s such a great championship up until this point. You want to see a great climactic finish on Sunday, and we’re going to see it on Monday now.”
    It’s the first Monday finish under the BMW imprint, and the first final round played at least in part on Monday since 1983, when the Western Open’s final 36 holes were played on Monday. Mark McCumber won that edition, and beat Peter Jacobsen on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff that took place on a Monday in 1989 thanks to a long rain delay.
    WGA tournament VP Vince Pellegrino said he believed some spectators stayed away because of the rain.
    “We had people come in waves,” Pellegrino said, pun not intended. “Actually I was really surprised the amount of people we had come out considering the forecast. I think it was a good crowd considering the weather.”
    Pellegrino said there will be an unknown financial hit because of extra staffing and transportation for Monday, but expects “a good-sized crowd” because of a leaderboard that includes Tiger Woods, Furyk, Stricker, Dustin Johnson – Western Open winners all – plus U.S. Open champion Justin Rose, Conway Farms member Luke Donald, Bubba Watson, Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler with 14 or more holes remaining in their rounds.
    “We had a great week through Saturday,” Pellegrino. “You can’t help Mother Nature.”

    Tee times for players yet to start

    8 a.m.: Brendon de Jonge (209), Jordan Spieth (209)
    8:10 a.m.: Henrik Stenson (209), John Merrick (209)
    8:20 a.m.: Roberto Castro (208), Nicholas Thompson (209)
    8:30 a.m.: Jimmy Walker (207), Matt Kuchar (208)
    8:40 a.m.: Sergio Garcia (207), Jason Day (207)
    8:50 a.m.: Luke Donald (207), Matt Jones (207)
    9 a.m.: Rory Sabbatini (206), Nick Watney (206)
    9:10 a.m.: Ryan Moore (205), Hunter Mahan (206)
    9:20 a.m.: Tiger Woods (204), Charl Schwartzel (205)
    9:30 a.m.: Brandt Snedeker (202), Zach Johnson (203)
    9:40 a.m.: Jim Furyk (200), Steve Stricker (201)

    Around Conway Farms

    Defending champion Rory McIlroy’s back-to-back 68s came too late to salvage his Tour Championship hopes. That’s because he opened with a 78-77 double-play combination, and that killed his opportunity to advance to Atlanta. McIlroy exited Conway Farms as the leader in the clubhouse, or at the airport, or back home, with a total of 7-over 291. After Friday’s disaster, he said, “I feel like I’m hitting the ball pretty well, I’m just not scoring. I felt really good after the PGA. When I’ve actually gotten myself into contention, that’s when I’ve played my best this year. That’s a good sign. The bad sign is that I’m not in contention too much.” ... Scott Piercy finished dead last in the 70-man field with a score of 18-over 302. Don’t feel bad, for he still earned $16,000. ... Only six players finished, with only the first two twosomes getting in before the first rain delay, at 10 a.m.

    – Tim Cronin