Honda Hiatus

Don't we just love Florida golf?  

No doubt you turned on your sets yesterday at 3:00 to find out that it was end days.... For those suffering in the Northeast and Midwest, here's video of someone else's misfortune:

Now, don't you feel just a little bit better?  No need to thank me.... And how about this air bubble that appeared on the 18th green?

We get those on our eighth fairway.... it's like walking on a trampoline.  Here's another view of 18 green, that white thingee being their formerly floating scoreboard:

Word is that they received five inches of rain necessitating a massive clean-up that will delay the resumption of play until 10 a.m. Sunday.  They'll use every trick in the book, including split tees and no re-pairing after the third round, and still won't finish.  Big deal, you say, they're only heading down the road to Doral, so what's the worry?

Alas, this is a potential disaster that will cause many of our heroes to miss the first major of the year.  Gary Van Sickle with the explication:

The Honda Classic needs to finish on Sunday or risk bumping into a major championship on Monday -- the pro-member tournament at nearby Seminole Golf Club, which a lot of Tour players look forward to and really is a big deal…

Shack gives us this link to the way-back machine to remind us that last year's Seminole event features six of the top ten players in the world.  Of course, Van Cynical closed his piece with this:

When play was called for the day Saturday afternoon an hour before the second-rounder leaders were scheduled to go to the tee, missing the cut at the Honda Classic suddenly didn't seem like such a bad break…

True 'dat!  I did watch quite a bit of the Thursday/Friday coverage from PGA National and had a mercifully small number of observations:

• I found Thursday afternoon's play in the strong winds to be quite fascinating, in a ghoulish train-wreck kind of way.  In that kind of wind there's almost no way to get around that punitive golf course without disaster.  It's a wonder that Charl Schwartzel or another unlucky soul that drew a late-early pairing didn't run out of ammo.
• The weather gave a significant advantage to the early-late groups, making Patrick Reed's performance all the more impressive.  And he put on a shot-making clinic out there. 
• Rory played dreadfully, but on one Par-4 he gunned a drive 331 yards....and was away.  Amusing, but when you play with DJ and Brooks Koepka that's gonna happen...
• Speaking of Brooksie, kudos for the bounce-back from Thursday's 78 with a Friday 64.  Picked up almost a shot per hole....

Padraig Harrington's name atop the leaderboard has Mart firing up the flux capacitor and setting it for 2007, such as this:

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- The Padraig Harrington who won three major

championships in a span of six contested about 100 years ago has reemerged at the Honda Classic, still unsure and a bit unsteady, but possessing a growing sureness that his relative steadiness can be sustained. 

Brilliant for 27 holes on the caustic Champion Course at PGA National, Harrington struggled over his inward nine and bogeyed his final two holes. Still, he completed a 4-under-par 66 Saturday to lead resourceful youngster Patrick Reed with a 7-under 133 total midway through a rain-plagued tournament destined for a Monday finish.

Now there's a statistical oddity that has folks abuzz.  Paddy is currently ranked 297th in the world, not especially promising except for the fact that the prior occupant of that slot, one James Hahn, won last week.  Still, color me cynical, as in van Cynical, who had this in the item linked above:

Honda 36-hole leader Harrington is the runaway leader in sponsor exemptions on the PGA Tour this year. Harrington, a former British Open and PGA champion, has already received seven exemptions to play. Before Honda, he had made only two cuts and won just over $26,000 using those exemptions. Now it’s looking like a pretty good call giving Harrington a spot…

Everything regresses to the mean....and Paddy's mean these days is quite....you know, mean.  Dave Shedloski had this summary of the carnage:

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- Well, the chamber of horrors that is the Champion Course at PGA National sure doesn't play favorites. As proof, many of the favorites aren't playing the Champion Course this weekend in the Honda Classic. 

Half of the field had yet to complete the second round because of nearly four hours of weather delays Friday, but the plethora of marquee players turning in their courtesy cars early was startling. Justin Rose, Billy Horschel, Dustin Johnson, Charl Schwartzel and Ernie Els were among the certain casualties, while Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell found themselves with ground to make up to survive the 36-hole cut when play resumes Saturday morning, weather permitting. 

Most shocking of all, however, was the thoroughly uninspired effort of world No. 1 Rory McIlroy, who had come into this event, his first this year on the PGA Tour, riding a wave that had begun with his victory in last year's Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.

Most of those big names just happened to be in the less fortunate late-early waves that caught the worst of the weather.  But I'd suggest that we shouldn't be all that surprised by Rory's flame-out, as despite some improvement he remains a surprisingly poor wind player, surprising given his passport.  He's also a very inconsistent player, more Phil than Tiger if you will.

Lastly, with a lawsuit filed you'd be excused for supposin' that the Tour might not want to give the caddies any further recruiting tolls.  You'd be wrong, of course, but still logical:

Earlier this month, PGA Tour caddies filed a $50 million class-action lawsuit against the

tour. And what happened on Saturday at the Honda Classic certainly isn't going to make that go away. 

As severe thunderstorms hit PGA National, play was suspended -- and ultimately, postponed -- sending players and fans to seek shelter. But while players huddled in the clubhouse, caddies, who aren't given clubhouse access during PGA Tour events, had to take cover in a metal shed on the course.

A steel shed during a lightning storm?  What could ever go wrong?  Caddies are not allowed in the clubhouse during tour events, which sounds like something out of the Harry Vardon era.  

I'll be traveling home tomorrow, so we'll catch up on Tuesday.  Good thing the Honda won't finish until Monday...