Hurricane Earl? It's wait-and-see time for the field, officials

NORTON, Mass. -- With concerns about Hurricane Earl on their minds, tournament officials for the Deutsche Bank Championship have done everything they can right now.

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Tee times for Friday morning's first round have been moved up 40 minutes to 7 a.m. ET. Course superintendent Tom Brodeur has assembled a group of volunteers to clear limbs and other debris from TPC Boston if necessary.

Now it's up to Mother Nature.

Hurricane Earl, which is currently packing winds of 125 mph, is headed up the East Coast of the United States. That much we know. Also fairly certain is the fact that the storm will impact the Massachusetts coast sometime on Friday, but no one is sure when -- or how severe it will be.

"We'll know a lot more (Thursday)," said Mark Russell, vice president of rules and competitions for the PGA TOUR.

The good news is that Earl is a fast-moving storm. If it arrives Friday afternoon, the skies should be clear by Saturday morning and temperatures will drop into the low to mid-70s. There would still be the potential to get some play in before the heaviest rain and strongest winds arrive, too -- and three good days remaining to finish on schedule.

Should Earl speed up and reach Massachusetts on Friday morning, though, all bets are off. And a more westerly path would mean a more significant impact inland in terms of rain and gale force winds.

"If it's further east, then obviously we get lesser amounts here and it's a lot better," said on-site meteorologist Stewart Williams. "But if it keeps trending a little west, then we get into ... a stronger core of winds and even more rain, so then we've got a bigger problem."

Tournament officials have already met several times to discuss contingency plans. The safety of the spectators and players will obviously be a prime consideration.

When Williams gets the latest models on Thursday, there will be more discussions about when and whether play can reasonably be expected to begin on schedule Friday.

"Hopefully Earl will slide more to the east but there's nothing we can do about it either way," Russell said.

Russell said it's rare the PGA TOUR deals with a hurricane. He remembers one that came ashore during a tournament at Kingsmill one year, but after it blew through and the course was cleaned up, play was able to resume on two tees.

Heavy winds have impacted The Honda Classic and Farmers Insurance Open before, too -- blowing down tents and signage.

"We've had close calls before but (Kingsmill) is the only one I can remember that caused us any problems," said Russell.

For now, though, it's simply a waiting game.

"There's nothing we can do," Russell said. "We've got 100 players. We'll just see what happens."