Hoylake, England (Sports Network) - The second round of the Women's British
Open was canceled on Friday due to heavy wind.
The round will resume on Saturday morning and there's no plan for the rest of
the tournament. A Monday finish, a 54-hole tournament or 36 holes on Sunday
all loom as possibilities.
There was some play on Friday but the heavy wind gusts, which reached as high
as 60 mph, forced the suspension of play. Balls weren't staying on greens and
in some cases, balls were even falling off tees.
The first groups out reached the fifth hole, but, even before play was called
for the day, a decision was made by rules officials that those scores would be
considered "null and void," based on Rule 33-2d.
"The competitors began their round in extremely adverse weather conditions and
conditions subsequently worsened despite our belief that they would remain
stable," said LGU Tournament Director, Susan Simpson in a statement. "It would
have been unfair to those competitors not to declare play null and void and
cancel all scores for the round in question."
Wiping out scores when play gets called for the day is common, but the
decision to start from scratch, even if play resumed later on Friday, was
rare.
The LPGA Tour tweeted, "Nullifying scores is not unprecedented. It also
occurred at the 2001 LPGA Champions Classic and 2003 Samsung World
Championship."
The rarity hardly mattered once play was called for the day.
One of the most obvious displays of how poor conditions were occurred in the
Suzann Pettersen/Cristie Kerr/Erina Hara threesome.
"I think the girl that was playing in Suzann Pettersen's group, Suzann,
Cristie Kerr and her, they had quite a bit of trouble on the green," said
Simpson, referring to Hara on either the 12th or 13th green. "Ultimately, I
think the ball moved from being about a 10-inch putt to something in the
region of about six foot."
Hara had to attempt the 6-foot putt instead of the short one.
"We had to then mark the ball where it had ended up after the wind had blown
it, which understandably, she wasn't too happy with," said Simpson.
Pettersen applauded the decision on Twitter.
"The sport we played this morning had nothing to do with golf. Right decision
is made now," she tweeted.
So Yeon Ryu, last year's U.S. Women's Open champion, was in one of the early
groups and made a bogey, but that won't hurt her now. She remained in first
along with Haeji Kang.
Jiyai Shin, the 2008 Women's British champion, survived a 9-hole playoff
Monday at the Kingsmill Championship and came out in round one with a 1-under
71.
Karrie Webb, a 7-time major winner and 2002 winner of this championship at
Turnberry, also had a 71 on Thursday.
The pair is knotted in third place with Ai Miyazato, 16-year-old English
amateur Charley Hull, Vicky Hurst, Katie Futcher, Mika Miyazato, Stacey
Keating and Lydia Hall.
Two-time defending champion Yani Tseng opened with an even-par 72 and is part
of a large group tied for 12th place.
Kerr, Angela Stanford, Evian Masters winner Inbee Park, Morgan Pressel and
Lydia Ko, the 15-year-old amateur who became the youngest winner in LPGA Tour
history a few weeks ago when she won the Canadian Women's Open, are part of a
large group tied with Tseng.
NOTES: Tee times are scheduled for 10 minutes earlier than the first two
rounds on Saturday.
The Sports Network