PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — On a bright and sunny Saturday just north of Los Angeles, play was suspended during the third round of the Genesis Invitational due to high winds.
It wasn’t just that golf balls were rolling off greens because of the gusts. The safety of players, caddies and staff became a concern.
“Ultimately I think we got into a situation of player safety, safety of our volunteers and everybody else out there on the golf course was our primary reason for shutting things down,” said Steve Rintoul, Senior Tournament Director. “We had a piece of communications equipment fall down very close to some players on the 14th tee, which really makes us as a committee step back and say maybe we need to go ahead and suspend now because it gets really more dangerous out there and that was ultimately the decision.”
The suspension went into effect at 1:08 p.m. ET (10:08 a.m. ET), about two hours after the third round started. At 2:30 p.m. ET, the Tour announced that play would resume at 3:20 p.m. ET, 12:20 p.m. local time.
It’s the first time play was suspended due to wind on the PGA Tour since the 2015 Open Championship. Prior to that, it was in 2014 at Pebble Beach.
According to PGA Tour radio, J.B. Holmes, who won the event in 2019, was on the fourth green setting up to putt when his hat blew off and tumbled across the green. Then, he and his caddie could only watch as his golf ball starting rolling, something that was happening on several greens.
Rickie Fowler was setting up to hit a shot when he was interrupted by a hat flying across the tee box right in front of him.
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The Tour’s meteorologist Stewart Williams told PGA Tour radio, “The wind is here to stay.”
He said gusts were measured as high as 32 miles per hour.
“They’re going to stay the rest of the day. I think the winds will stay through to night but it will come down tomorrow.”
Everyone was called off the course. Many players gathered in the player eating area to grab some lunch. Others found a spot with their caddies on the practice putting green to wait it out.
Max Homa eagled the first hole just as the winds were getting going. That got him to 8 under, four back of overnight leader Sam Burns, who was on the first tee box when the suspension was called.