The suspended first round of the 2022 Players Championship resumed early on Friday morning, but it did not conclude. After enduring an early downpour, players were pulled off the course at 11:15 a.m. ET with Round 2 just about to start as Round 1 headed toward a close.
Instead, Round 1 will now be completed on Saturday morning but will start no earlier than 11 a.m. — which means that on Saturday afternoon, when the weekend leaders are normally preparing to tee off, we’ll just be getting ready for Round 2. Players like Jon Rahm and Will Zalatoris, who played early on Thursday, might not hit a shot again until Sunday depending on delays and how much water the course takes on overnight.
At one point on Thursday, Collin Morikawa — who is even thru 15 holes — hit a top with his 3-wood because conditions were so slick and nasty. Players weren’t called off the course at the time, but eventually were pulled later on in the day when the rain wouldn’t let up as it started destroying the course for a second consecutive day.
A Monday — or even Tuesday — finish is very much in play now as a result of the back-to-back disruptions.
“We are very confident at this point — we’re into a Monday finish” said Players Championship chief referee Gary Young on Friday. “We know that. If our calculations on everything hold together and we’re able to start tomorrow, we certainly expect to be finished with the championship on Monday.”
However, 11 a.m. on Saturday is, again, idealistic.
“I would say based on the forecast right now, that would be a best-case, but certainly if we come in here in the morning and things have moved through quicker than expected … but we will not start any earlier than 11,” said Young. “That has been messaged to our players, and so at this point moving that forward at all is not a possibility. We would stick with that as the earliest”
Rick Gehman and Kyle Porter recap Friday’s limited action from TPC Sawgrass. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
If everything breaks perfectly, then perhaps Monday is still possible. But if there are any more delays at all or if, say, play is delayed until noon or later on Saturday, there’s almost no chance this event will finish by Monday evening. A glance at the radar shows more rain expected on Saturday morning before the wind howls in the afternoon. No rain is expected on Sunday.
This gives a big advantage to the players who were golfing early on Thursday. They could be almost completely exempt from the wild winds that could come on Saturday afternoon, or some of them might catch a bit of that weather before it gets too dark to continue playing.
Whenever play does resume, though, here’s a look at the current leaderboard:
T1. Tommy Fleetwood (-6) — F
T1. Tom Hoge (-6) — F
T1. Brice Garnett (-6) — 13
T4. Kramer Hickok (-5) — F
T4. Joaquin Niemann (-5) — F
T4. Keith Mitchell (-5) — F
T4. Anirban Lahiri (-5) — F
T5. Daniel Berger (-5) — 16
T9. Brian Harman (-4) — F
T9. Sam Burns (-4) — F
T9. Abraham Ancer (-4) — F
T9. Taylor Pendrith (-4) — F
T9. Kevin Kisner (-4) — F
T9. Dustin Johnson (-4) — 16
T9. Scottie Scheffler (-4) — 15
T9. Patton Kizzire (-4) — 15
T9. Doug Ghim (-4) — 12
Fleetwood, Hoge, Hickok, Niemann and Mitchell are hoping for a scenario that delays play even further on Saturday. They’re in the second wave of tee times, so they wouldn’t have to go back out until Sunday and could miss the worst of the wind.
All in all, this week has been a sloppy, unfortunate mess, especially with all the excitement and storylines coming into the event. There’s plenty of time to salvage the tournament, of course, but when we look back on this event in the future, we will likely remember it for the dreary, rainy bummer of a week it’s been thus far. That is, somewhat ironically, the opposite of the short- and long-term trajectory commissioner Jay Monahan spoke about when the week started.
