May 23, 2014
- NCAA Championship Round One Photo GalleryHUTCHINSON, Kan. -- Three different weather delays that totaled over eight hours made for a rough first day for teams at the NCAA Golf Championship at Prairie Dunes Country Club on Friday.
Play was eventually suspended for the day at 5:45 p.m. (CT) and teams will resume play at 7 a.m. (CT) on Saturday morning in what promises to be a very long day of competition.
Just 15 teams, Purdue included, were able to get in any action on a rain-soaked first day. The day's first delay came before play even started as lightning was in the area, causing a 45-minute delay pushing tee times back to 8:15 a.m.
After just about 45 minutes of play, heavy rain started falling on the course and wouldn't relent for the next five-plus hours. Play was able to resume for a little over an hour, before another rain cell moved into the area and caused another hour-plus delay that started at 3:27 p.m.
Officials thought they had a window to get in a few more holes, opening the range with plans to resume playing at 5 p.m., but another storm formed just south of Hutchinson and moved over the water-logged course at about 4:45 p.m., bringing competitors in off the driving range yet again. The decision was then made at 5:45 p.m., to suspend play for the remainder of the day.
All told, Prairie Dunes received about two-and-a-half inches of rain during the day.
14 has a bit of water. pic.twitter.com/qcN6fktHIv
-- John Lanham (@pdccpro) May 23, 2014
Hutchinson, Kansas, has been extremely dry this year and locals are very thankful for the rain that fell, but it made for a long first day for all teams involved.
The forecast isn't promising either, as the next four days all call for rain and thunderstorms at some point during the day, including a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms on Saturday.
"Today was a really tough day because we were excited to get going and get out on the course," head coach Rob Bradley said. "It's very difficult to play the waiting game and we warmed up three different times, but only completed a few holes. The most important thing going forward is staying focused and patient. Saturday is going to be a long day and we need to be mentally prepared for that, and the possibility of more delays going forward."
However, Purdue did manage to play a combined 14 holes, posting a round of 1-over par in its limited time on the course.
Freshman Philippe Schweizer is off to a strong start early at 1-under par through four holes. Schweizer missed the green on each of the first three holes, but was able to get up-and-down to save par on all three holes, before rolling in a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-3 fourth hole to move to 1-under par.
Sophomore Stuart Macdonald has parred all three holes that he has played, sitting even-par after three holes.
After a chip-in birdie on the Par-3 second hole, Enzo Perez bogeyed Nos. 3 and 4 to fall to 1-over par through four holes.
Austin Eoff (two holes) and Adam Schenk (one hole) are both 1-over par early.
The players will return to their current positions on the course and resume play at 7 a.m. (CT) on Saturday morning. It is believed that the Boilermakers will finish their first round around 11:30 a.m., wait for Friday's afternoon wave to complete their round, which could be at about 3 p.m., have the Saturday morning wave tee off again and complete their second round, before Saturday afternoon's wave (which Purdue is in) tee off, possibly around 7 or 7:30 p.m. tomorrow evening.
Sunset in Hutchinson is set to be around 8:45 p.m. on Saturday.
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