The rain-soaked Players Championship will need a third day to finish the first round

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This article was published 11/03/2022 (1665 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla.—Nothing good comes when squeegees are brought out on a golf course. Especially when they’re still there hours later.

The PGA Tour suspended play at The Players Championship at 11:15 a.m. Frirday because of wet weather, then cancelled things just after 3 p.m. Forty-eight players had yet to complete the first round. And with another storm system expected overnight, with winds that could reach 95 km/h, there will be no golf at TPC Sawgrass until 11 a.m. Saturday at the earliest.

Gary Young, the chief referee of The Players Championship, said the maintenance team “battled hard” to keep up with the weather, but nearly eight centimetres of rain had fallen on the course over the 48 hours before play was called.

“The golf course has reached the point of saturation and the weather conditions are not providing any relief,” Young said.

Young is hopeful The Players can resume Saturday and finish late Monday, but there is a chance the tournament could continue into Tuesday. There have been seven Monday finishes in tournament history, the last in 2005.

“It’s just bad luck,” Young said when discussing the event’s March date. It was held in May from 2007 to 2018.

Canadian Taylor Pendrith had some bad luck of his own Friday morning, but turned it into a positive.

After finishing 16 holes Thursday, he had arguably the two toughest holes left: the par-3 17th, with its island green, and the historically difficult par-4 18th. He parred both, however, and finished with a 4-under 68. He’s the low Canadian on the leaderboard.

Pendrith said the soft conditions at TPC Sawgrass favour a long hitter like him. He birdied three of the four par fives in his first round.

“I gave myself a lot of nice looks,” Pendrith said. “But you have to do everything well here.”

Mackenzie Hughes also finished his opening round Friday. He birdied two of his final three holes to end up at even par, and said his putting let him down.

“I actually played stretches of really nice golf. Had lots of good opportunities to make some birdies,” he said. “My putting from inside of 10 feet wasn’t very sharp and I probably left a handful of those out there.”

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Roger Sloan (2 over) and Corey Conners (1 under) both finished their opening rounds Thursday.

Tommy Fleetwood and Tom Hoge held onto their overnight leads at 6-under and were joined by Brice Garnett Friday morning. The PGA Tour winner dunked a sand wedge from 96 yards on the par-4 fourth hole, his 13th of the day, for an eagle to get to 6-under. It was his last swing before the weather delay.

“We were kind of looking forward to a grindfest,” said Garnett, who played with Canadian Adam Hadwin (1-under). “I’ve always played well in the opposite-field events in the islands where it’s windy and rainy. That’s kind of our game. Plod it around, keep the ball out of the wind.”

Other notables in the mix who have yet to complete their opening rounds include Daniel Berger (5 under through 16), Dustin Johnson (4 under through 16) and Scottie Scheffler (4 under through 15).

Adam Stanley is an Ottawa-based contributor to the Star’s Sports section and the host of golf podcast Next Round’s On Me. Follow him on Twitter: @adam_stanleyh