Fearsome forecast has Friday play up in the air

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Condon/PGA TOUR

Thursday's gusts might feel like a gentle seabreeze compared to the gale-force winds forecast for Friday.

HONOLULU -- With wind gusts in excess of 55 mph in the forecast on Friday, no one knows quite what to expect for the second round of the Sony Open in Hawaii.

A cold front will move across the island of Oahu on Friday, bringing with it 20-30 mph sustained winds, gale-force gusts and potentially heavy downpours. The weather had already deteriorated Thursday afternoon with periods of rain and gusts of more than 30 mph.

Schools on Oahu -- as well as Kauai, Maui, Molokai and Lanai -- have already been closed on Friday because of the high winds that are expected. The tournament will go on as scheduled, if possible, with the first tee times at 7:15 a.m. local time.

"We're just going to come in and see what we've got," PGA TOUR Tournament Director Mark Russell said philosophically. "We're going to pull the roll off the greens and single cut in the morning.

"We're going to take every precaution we can and try to play."

Russell and the other rules officials will closely monitor the situation on Friday. Tees will undoubtedly be moved up on some holes, as they were for the first round, and pin placements might be adjusted depending on the conditions.

During play, the rules staff will be watching to see if balls move on the greens or if they are unable to stay on the tees. If that happens, officials will have no choice but to halt play as they did during the final round of the 2007 Verizon Heritage.

"If we couldn't play golf under the rules, we wouldn't play," Russell said. "... This is like Hilton Head a couple of years ago. It was a very dangerous situation."

At the same time, Russell held out hope.

"Of course, they never miss a weather prediction," he said with a smile.