Cal Golf: Rain Delay and Darkness Bookend an Unproductive Day at The Players

Four Cal golfers competing in The Players Championship managed to play a combined total of just 15 holes during Thursday’s first round as a four-hour rain delay and eventually darkness cut short the round.

Neither World No. 2 Collin Morikawa nor any of his three fellow Cal alums had teed it up when play was suspended at 11 a.m. ET due to “dangerous weather” in the Ponte Vedra Beach Florida, area.

The course had absorbed 1.25 inches of rain overnight and it continued through the early part of the day.

All four ex-Bears finally got to begin play, but darkness caused the tournament to be stopped before any of them were close to being done with their opening round.

Morikawa and Max Homa played just two holes each and are tied for 40th place at 1-under after pars on No. 1 and birdies on No. 2.

Morikawa, 25, can move into the No. 1 world ranking with a victory here. He leads the PGA tour this season with a 69.181 scoring average.

Brandon Hagy bogeyed the first hole then made par on the next five and is tied for 99th place at plus-1. Also in that slot is James Hahn, who made par on his first four holes then bogeyed No. 14.

England’s Tommy Fleetwood, 31, still chasing his first career PGA tour title, and Tom Hoge, a 32-year-old from Fargo, N.D., share the top spot with completed rounds of six-under 66. Hope had an eagle on the par-5 second hole.

Fleetwood told the Golf Channel he arrived at TPC Sawgrass at 5 a.m. and he knows the schedule for the rest of the weekend is likely to be unusual, featuring stops and starts.

“That can turn into very long days. You don't want too many of them as you go on throughout the week,” he said. “I've had a really good day. I can sit on that. I can feel happy with my work and go from there for sure.”

American Harold Varner III was the leader much of the day before shooting a triple-bogey 6 on the par-3 17th hole and then a bogey on 18. He had seven birdies in a flawless round through 16 holes but now finds himself tied for 11th at minus-3.

World No. 1 Jon Rahm is also at 3 under.

Weather is expected to be a continuing problem into the weekend. The updated forecast was calling for a 99-percent chance of rain on Friday.

More rain was expected on Saturday, when the forecast also called for wind gusts to 35 mph and a cold front.

Gary Young, the PGA Tour’s chief referee, told reporters the goal is to complete the tournament by Sunday afternoon, but that’s going to take some doing at this point as nearly half the field didn’t complete the first round and 12 golfers never even started.

Cover photo of fans in the rain at TPC Sawgrass by Corey Perrine, Florida Times Union

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo