“Either they have a completely different forecast to the one I’ve been viewing or, they consider three or four knots as a considerable change in wind speed. ”
The 2013 US PGA Tour still hasn't started but the weather is supposed to improve today and we could be in luck. The Punter's not convinced however...
10:55 - January 6, 2013
With the unrelenting winds refusing to ease in Hawaii, the Hyundai Tournament of Champions still hasn't officially started. Delays inevitably progressed to abandonment yesterday and the event has now been reduced to 54 holes, which still seems extremely optimistic.
The plan now is to play 36 holes today, starting at 7.10am local time (5.10pm UK time), followed by 18 on Monday, fingers and toes crossed. The PGA Tour website yesterday stated that the weather forecast is much better for today which suggests one of two things. Either they have a completely different forecast to the one I've been viewing or, they consider three or four knots as a considerable change in wind speed.
If play does get underway, and I'm far from convinced it ever will, the live coverage on Sky starts earlier than advertised, at 8.00pm, and tonight could develop into a busy one.
10:40 - January 5, 2013
The 2013 US PGA Tour is just a few hours old but it's already descended into farce. The forecast strong winds arrived in Hawaii yesterday, where the traditional seasonal opener, the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, is being held and with some players out on the course and some yet to start, play for round one was abandoned, with all the scores scrapped.
Webb Simpson, a popular choice with some very shrewd judges, including our very own Paul Krishnamurty, was handling the brutal conditions quite brilliantly and whilst others were racking up double and triple bogeys or worse, the US Open champ was showing his class in no uncertain terms. He was the only player under-par and had somehow gotten to -3 through seven holes when play was stopped.
The decision to scrap the scores suited me as my man, Carl Pettersson, was one of those worst affected by the weather. Having pared the 1st hole, his tee-shot on the par 3 2nd had landed just shy of the putting surface. He played what looked a perfectly judged second shot but instead of stopping a foot from the pin, as looked likely, a gust of wind blew it 30 feet past! Bubba Watson described it as goofy golf and you can see where he was coming from!
Simpson had been matched at a low of 6.05/1 in-running and you have to have sympathy for his backers, who will quite understandably claim it's just the luck of the draw. After all, nobody ever said the game was meant to be fair and there is a draw bias to some extent virtually every week, but I can see why they've done what they've done, with some players having not even teed off. I do think they were naive with the course set-up though. Could they not have placed the pins better and not cut the greens so short?
Anyway, the plan now is to play 36 holes today, with the field starting off two tees at 7.30am local time (5.30pm UK time). I assume the greens won't have been cut and more thought will be given to pin placement but they're still up against it as the weather is forecast to be no better at all.
I'm going to leave my bet in place but there is a chance that the event could get reduced to 36 holes and that it becomes a bit of a lottery (if it isn't already) so I certainly wouldn't advise getting heavily involved.
The market is currently suspended but once a decision has been made with regards to bets placed after the start yesterday, I'll be sure to update you here.
Selection:
Carl Pettersson @ 28.027/1
*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter
There are no comments on this article.
No comments:
Post a Comment