January 6 2013

2:15 PM

What they're tweeting at Kapalua

High winds in Maui have prevented play from starting at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.
(John Bush/PGA TOUR)

With play still not under way at Kapalua, players have had plenty of time to share their thoughts (and images) from the season-opener. Here's a sampling of some of the best.

 

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January 5 2013

8:37 PM

Henry honoring Sandy Hook victims

J.J. Henry dons an "SHES" on his cap on Friday at Kapalua. (Petersen/Getty Images)

By Ann Miller, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent

KAPALUA, Hawaii — J.J. Henry has added a touching “SHES” to his cap this week at the windblown Hyundai Tournament of Champions. It is the Connecticut native’s way of honoring the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School victims.

“What I have on my hat speaks for the entire PGA TOUR family, from players to media to fans and everybody,” Henry said. “We are thinking about them. This  being the first event in Hawaii, I hope it’s a nice way to help out the families and let them know we are thinking about them.”

Henry, who finished eighth in his only previous TOC in 2007, grew up in Fairfield. That’s some 20 miles south of the school where last month’s shooting took the lives of 26 children and teachers.

Henry calls it an “unthinkable tragedy” that hit close to home. His parents still live in Fairfield and the Sandy Hook kids are now back in classes at Chalk Hill Middle School, where Henry remembers playing basketball.

“I didn’t know any of the families directly, but they are so close to that same close-knit community where I grew up that I felt like I did,” the three-time Connecticut State Amateur Golf Champion said. “It’s just a small gesture to say we are thinking of you.”

He wore the hat in Wednesday’s Pro-Am and Friday’s abbreviated first round, which was thrown out when Kapalua Plantation became unplayable. The two rounds scheduled for Saturday were also cancelled and the TOC will try to start a third time Sunday with 36 holes planned. The final 18 — the tournament is now cut to 54 holes — will be Monday.

Henry will wear his hat every day, and hopes to do well enough that more people will see it. NBC’s presence Sunday with The Golf Channel is the first network coverage of the Hyundai TOC since it moved to Kapalua in 1999.

“Those families have gone through the holidays and it’s been cold and snowy there,” Henry says, “So if I can get out and play well and they see it they will know the PGA TOUR is thinking of them. I want to honor them.”

Henry went to college at Texas Christian and now lives in Fort Worth. He founded the Henry House Foundation in 2006, the year he got his first PGA TOUR win at the Buick Championship. The foundation “promotes health care and well-being” for kids in Fort Worth and Southern New England. Henry won last year’s Reno-Tahoe Open to get to Kapalua.

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6:11 PM

Is Dustin Johnson now the favorite?

Dustin Johnson has two victories at weather-shortened events in his career. (Photo by Stan Badz/PGA TOUR)

By PGATOUR.COM staff

Dustin Johnson was one of the favorites coming into the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. He might be even more of factor now.

Of Johnson's six victories on the PGA TOUR, two have come at weather-shortened events.

Johnson won The Barclays in 2011 when he rallied to win after carding a final-round 65 in the Hurricane Irene-shortened event. Johnson also won the 2009 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am when weather shortened that event to 54 holes. Johnson took a four-shot lead at Pebble Beach before heavy rain forced officials to cancel the final round and declare Johnson the champion.

Johnson also won last season's FedEx St. Jude Classic, the 2010 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, 2010 BMW Championship and the 2008 Turning Stone Resort Championship.

After a season in which he finished eighth in the FedExCup points race, Johnson surely has his sights set on even more. His distance off the tee -- he ranked fourth in driving distance at 310.2 yards in 2012 -- will certainly help on a soggy course at Kapalua.

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5:18 PM

Saturday observations from Kapalua

Petersen/Getty Images

By: Fred Albers, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent

KAPALUA, Hawaii -- There were several concerned caddies, fearful of a 36-hole walk over the hilliest course on the PGA TOUR at they Hyundai Tournament of Champions on Saturday.

Officials listened to those concerns and tried to help. Caddies and players will be offered extra cart rides covering the longest walks from green to tee and up the most severely sloped sections of the course on Sunday.

Unplayable: Slugger White, the PGA TOUR’s vice president of rules and operations, and other TOUR officials knew Saturday play was in jeopardy by 6:30 in the morning. That’s when a group of officials drove out to the 10th green to assess the situation. The putting surface slopes from back to front and when White dropped a golf ball onto the green in the early morning light, it momentarily held position until a gust of wind whipped the ball down the slope. The ball did not stop rolling until it was 20 yards down the fairway. Conditions only worsened as the day progressed.

Practice: In most instances, when play is suspended or canceled on the PGA TOUR, it’s because of a dangerous situation and the practice range is closed. That’s not the case in Kapalua. The range is open and immediately following the cancellation of play on Saturday, players drove to the driving range to get in some practice. Most contestants said they would get in a little work on the range, some time in the gym and then watch football or hit the beach … weather permitting.

Quick start: A 54-hole event may change a player’s strategy. With 36 holes on Sunday, a bad day could eliminate a player’s chance to win. The flip side of that is the golfer who plays well has a chance to separate himself from the field with 36 holes of opportunity on Sunday. Usually, a player is asked to deliver four days of solid play but with a two-day tournament that changes things. Golfers said they might be inclined to take more chances with the shortened event.

Weather watch: TOUR officials outlined their strategy but also admitted that plan is only as good as the weather forecast. Sunday calls for a 50 percent chance of rain with 20 mph winds. Monday is supposed to be dry with winds blowing 18 mph. Of course, weather forecasts can differ and White admitted his plans are also subject to change saying, “Let’s get through Sunday and see where we stand.”

Fred Albers is a course reporter for SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio. For more information on SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio, click here.

 

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4:50 PM

Wind again the big winner at Kapalua

A Kapalua flag blows after Saturday was canceled due to high winds at the Plantation Course. (Petersen/Getty Images)

By Ann Miller, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent

KAPALUA, Maui, Hawaii -- Driving wind forced the postponement of the opening round of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions for the second straight day Saturday. PGA TOUR officials hope to get in 36 holes Sunday and play 18 on Monday’s final day, declaring a champion after 54 holes.

“We got balls rolling all over the green, so we have canceled play for the day,” said Slugger White, the PGA TOUR's vice president of rules and operations. White added that winds gusting over 50 mph were moving balls on the 10th, 11th and 13th greens, even pushing them uphill on the 10th.

Friday’s opening round was wiped out with the first group through eight holes. Three groups did not tee off after an official saw Carl Pettersson’s 40-foot putt on the second green get blown 30 feet past the hole and off the green.

Officials hoped to play two rounds Saturday at 7:30 a.m. local time. The start was delayed an hour just before the first groups were to tee off, and the delay eventually reached 3 hours.

At approximately 10:20 a.m., officials made the decision to try again Sunday, going off the first and 10th tees at 7:10 a.m. local time (12:10 p.m. ET).

“Forecast for tomorrow is a little better, 15- to 25-mph with gusts, maybe, to 30,” White said. “A little less moisture, more like pineapple showers than these downpours that we have had.”

Brandt Snedeker has not struck an official shot in 2013. He is playing in the final group with defending champion Steve Stricker and they did not tee off Friday. Snedeker was happy with the officials’ decision.

“Yeah, they did do the right thing,” Snedeker said. “It's just a little too windy out there for us to play.  If the course wasn't so exposed, it wouldn't be a problem, but you have a lot of greens exposed to 40-mile-an-hour wind gusts.

“It's tough to make that call. They did the right thing. We had to try to play today if we wanted to try to get 72 holes in. Unfortunately a short day, but hopefully get out tomorrow and get some golf.”

Hunter Mahan said the 30 players were trying to take the delays in stride.

“It’s difficult,” Mahan said. “We are in such a cool place and we can't really do much. It's strange when you go down the road 10 minutes or 15, 20 minutes and it's great, it looks beautiful over there but for some reason right here, it's tough.

“It's difficult to figure out if you want to go hit balls right now or wait till later or what you want to do. I think we all are trying to figure out what to do and what's the best plan for us to get ready for the next two days or three days.”

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3:26 PM

Hyundai cut to 54 holes, begins Sunday

By PGATOUR.COM staff

The 2013 PGA TOUR season will now begin on Sunday.

For the second straight day, high winds forced first-round play of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions to be canceled. The tournament will be shortened to 54 holes, with tournament officials hoping to play 36 holes on Sunday and 18 holes on Monday. The weather forecast is much better for Sunday.

The first round will begin on Sunday at 7:10 a.m. HT (12:10 p.m. ET).

"Went out there this morning about 6:30," said Slugger White, the PGA TOUR's vice president of rules and operations. "I dropped a ball on the 10th green, on the back of the green just dropped it and (it) rolled off 20 yards off the front of the green. We did have balls that were going uphill on 10 a foot and a half."

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12:04 PM

Round 1 delayed again at Kapalua

The first round of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions was supposed to begin at 12:30 p.m. ET (7:30 a.m. local time), but high winds are back in force again on Saturday.

Officials have delayed the start of of the first round by three hours to 3:30 p.m. ET (10:30 a.m. local time).

Stay tuned to PGATOUR.COM or Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/PGATOUR) for updates.

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10:30 AM

Former TOUR member Sasaki, 48, dies

Hisayuki Sasaki represented Japan in the 1995 World Cup. (Munday/Getty Images)

Hisayuki Sasaki, who played 19 events as a member of the PGA TOUR in 1996, has died at the age of 48.

Sasaki, a three-time winner on the Japanese tour, qualified for the PGA TOUR via q-school in 1995. He netted three top-25 finishes in 1996, his best being a tie for 20th at the Buick Invitational. Overall in his PGA TOUR career, Sasaki played in 28 PGA TOUR events between 1995-98. He finished tied for 31st in his lone major championship start at the 1995 Open Championship at St. Andrews.

At one point, one point, Sasaki was inside the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking. The Tokyo native also represented Japan in the World Cup of Golf in 1995, where he finished second in the individual standings to Davis Love III, falling in a five-hole playoff.

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9:56 AM

Hyundai TOC: TV information

The cancellation of the first round of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions will not change the television schedule for the event.

- Golf Channel's programming schedule is unchanged for Saturday -- the network will begin showing play starting at 5:30 p.m. ET from Kapalua. Golf Channel's pre-game show begins at 5 p.m. ET. SiriusXM is on the air from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET.

- NBC will have network coverage of the event on Sunday from 3 p.m. ET to 6 p.m. ET.

- Monday's final round will be shown on Golf Channel at 4 p.m. ET. Golf Channel's pre-game show begins at 3:30 p.m. ET.

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January 4 2013

10:04 PM

Friday observations from Kapalua

Wet, windy conditions made for a tough day at Kapalua. (Petersen/Getty Images)

By: Fred Albers, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent

KAPALUA, Hawaii -- It was funny to watch caddies prepare for the rainy day. They would disappear into the bag room and emerge with their player’s clubs, carrying two towels. Those towels would not even last through a 20-minute putting session. The caddies returned for more towels before going to the range and then got another two towels before heading to the tee. There was no way to keep everything dry in the rain squalls and 40 mph wind gusts. Caddies stuffed as many towels as possible into their bags making for a heavy load as moisture was absorbed.

7-for-7: Byron Nelson once commented, you would be surprised how little the wind would affect a golf ball that was struck squarely. Webb Simpson gave a demonstration on Friday. The U.S. Open champion hit his first seven greens in high wind and rain. Given the conditions, that was remarkable. Simpson converted three birdie putts when the wind was blowing hard enough to veer the ball off line. Nelson would have been proud.

Big drive: Rickie Fowler averaged 293 yards per drive in 2012. On the third hole on Friday, his drive traveled 218 yards leaving him a 147 yard five iron into the green. The 365 yard hole goes right uphill and played directly into the teeth of the wind. When asked about the 218-yard drive, Fowler told me, “I crushed it. Absolutely pured it on a great trajectory.”

Forecast: The weather on Saturday is predicted to be much like Friday with the exception of stiffer winds. There is an 80 percent chance of rain with winds forecast at 26 mph. It will be interesting to see if greens are left uncut from Friday. Slower putting surfaces would give the ball a better chance of holding the greens in the extreme conditions.
Endurance: The Plantation Course is the hilliest track on the PGA TOUR. It is a difficult walk even in the best of conditions. If weather permits, players and caddies will be asked to walk 36 holes on Saturday. That will be a quick fitness check for the first day of the 2013 schedule.

Fred Albers is a course reporter for SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio. For more information on SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio, click here.

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