Bringing new meaning to the phrase, 'Texas wind'

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Paul Goydos only managed to get in nine holes before play was suspended on Thursday.

HUMBLE, Texas -- Paul Goydos knew it was time to quit when he saw white caps whipping across the water at the eighth hole.

"I think there was a small craft advisory,'' he said, grinning. "There were waves breaking on the lake."

That might be a slight exaggeration. Then again, maybe not.

What was supposed to be a breezy Texas spring afternoon -- think gusts of 25 to 35 mph -- turned ugly. As in 45 mph body slammers that knocked down fences and sent your basic golf ball in motion -- after it was at a dead stop on the green.

Justin Leonard watched an 8-foot downwind birdie turn into a 6-footer into a stiff headwind -- before he even thought about addressing it. Greg Norman hadn't even gotten to the 18th green when his ball took a 20-foot stroll on it's own -- from above the green to just shy of the fringe.

And, yes, they called the first round of the Shell Houston Open with the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky.

There was no other choice.

A day that started 2 ½ hours late when a pair of rainy storm fronts moved through the area early Thursday morning came to an end around 3 p.m. when the round was suspended for the day. Play was stopped at 12:50 p.m. -- just after Leonard rolled in that 6-footer for birdie to give a new meaning to the term good wind player -- but officials waited to see if the wind would die down.

It didn't.

The gusts -- a bit tamer than last year's damp, windblown Open Championship at Birkdale -- coupled with the pre-Masters setup that includes shaved banks and exposed greens running 13-plus on the stimpmeter turned the opening round into a game of chance.

"It makes us look pretty bad,'' said Goydos, who was even par through nine holes. " It's a nice day to go to the park, but we can't play golf.

"It's tough. The golf course is in too good a shape. We've gotten it too Masters-like.''

Some players speculated that had the greens been running, say, a slower 10 -- normal tournament conditions -- instead of the fast speed to prepare players for next week's Masters, play might not have been stopped.

The PGA TOUR's tournament director Mark Russell disagreed.

"The greens were fast, but I think if the greens were rolling at any speed today, we'd have had a major problem,'' Russell said. "We had a wind forecast looking about 25, 35 miles an hour. We can handle that. That's basic Texas weather. But when the winds got up over 45 miles an hour, we just -- we couldn't play.

"The competition was crazy. Hit your ball on some of the greens and you just blow it away.''

Could they have played anyway?

"We could have, but it would have been a disaster,'' said Joe Ogilvie. " If we would have played there would have been 100 guys penalized for balls moving on the greens.''

Mark Calcavecchia, who never teed off, just shook his head. "No point in going out there in this. It would be close to being a joke.''

Yet you could score. Lee Westwood, the mid-round morning leader, birdied the ninth hole to slide into the delay with an opening 4-under-par 32 on the front nine. Leonard birdied the 15th and 17th holes to go 2 under after eight holes and join seven other players there including J.B. Holmes, who also completed eight holes.

But even Leonard, who grew up playing in the Texas wind, admitted he was glad he didn't have to putt that 8-footer downwind.

"I don't know if I could have kept it within 10 feet of the hole,'' he said, shaking his head.

"...This is part of the hazard of having greens this fast.''

Shell Houston Open tournament director Steve Timms defending the decision to set the course up to emulate Augusta National. After all, he said, they have pulled in eight of the top 10 players in the world and 15 of the top 25.

"Mother Nature plays some tricks at times, but we wouldn't change a thing,'' Timms said. "We are kind of a victim but I haven't seen 45 mile an hour winds in the spring in a long time.''

Redstone's grounds crew syringed some of the greens to keep them in shape Thursday night -- they would bake out with the combination of wind and sun without some water -- and planned to keep a close eye on them overnght.

First-round play is due to resume just after dawn here -- 8:20 a.m. ET -- and the last tee time is 5:30 ET. They'll start the second round, make the cut likely Saturday afternoon, then complete the third round and play the fourth round Sunday.

The forecast for the weekend is good -- just a little wind -- and they expect to finish on time -- 6 p.m. ET -- Sunday night.

"Barring any other delays, the PGA TOUR officials will get us back on schedule,'' Timms said. "We're going to be respectful of the first major of the year. We're going to make sure we finish Sunday afternoon and get the players on their way to Augusta.''

Phil Mickelson, who played with Leonard, was 3-over through eight holes, took the delay in stride but couldn't say enough about the greens.

"The greens are awesome. They're perfect for Augusta, exactly what we'll see next week, they're just too fast for winds over 20,'' he said.

Westwood, who birdied the first two holes, said the wind hit him going down the fifth hole when he was standing over a wedge into the green.

"It went from very playable to gusting to about felt like sort of 40, 45 miles an hour,'' he said. "So I had to back off a few shots out there, and I had to think about it, play a few knockdown shots.''

He didn't, however, have to think too hard when play was called and he was standing over a 15-foot putt straight uphill at the 10th.

"Given the option -- the guy came over, it's unplayable,'' Westwood said. "You can either putt this putt and finish out the hole or come back in the morning. So I can putt it now while it's unplayable, I can come back in the morning when there's no winds in the greens?''

He grinned. "Let me think about that.''

Norman walked off the course even through seven holes and said, basically, what can you do?

"The greens will hold but when you're trying to putt a 3-foot putt or 4-foot putt when the wind is blowing on you sideways you have to allow three, four inches for the break into the wind,'' he said. "That's not right.''

Then again, thanks to Mother Nature, nothing really was Thursday.