MONTREAL – Team USA played in a fog on Friday and woke up to foggy skies on Saturday.
The first of two sessions of the 2024 Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal Golf Club was delayed more than an hour and a half, which means there’s a strong chance that the afternoon foursomes session won’t be completed on Saturday. Officials announced that tee times for the fourth session will run from 2:20 p.m. ET to 3:02 p.m. ET. Those pairings won’t be announced until approximately 1:40 p.m. As a result, the 12 singles matchups may not be announced until play is completed on Sunday morning. Sunday matches are scheduled to begin at approximately 12:02 p.m.
The first four-ball match, which began at 7:02 a.m. ET, had completed one hole and the second match had teed off when play was suspended at 7:23 a.m. ET. The delay lasted a total of one hour and 37 minutes.
Mother Nature had been kind to the competition the first two days. On Thursday, the rain stopped ahead of the start of four-ball and the sun broke through and Friday’s foursomes session was played under glorious sunshine. It was a true Chamber of Commerce day.
But Saturday brought fog and limited visibility, and officials had no choice but to hit the pause button and push back the starting times on the final two matches scheduled for the morning session.
An official said that with two rounds scheduled for today, they had an hour built into the schedule for a delay but this one ran over the allotted time.
Pace of play is always an issue when the pros tee it up and they will need to quicken their pace – or close out matches early – if we are going to finish play before sundown at 6:39 p.m. ET. It does help that foursomes features just one ball in play per team and typically moves at a faster clip.
The fog lifted and play resumed at 9:00 a.m. ET. It’s turned into another beautiful day in Quebec, Canada’s belle province.
