KAPALUA, Hawaii — Most golf tournaments end on Sunday. Yesterday, this one couldn’t even get started.
The wind came roaring down the Plantation Course at Kapalua again, and it left PGA Tour officials no choice but to stop play and try to start again in the Tournament of Champions.
With more manageable wind in the forecast, the plan was to play 36 holes today (4 p.m., Golf Channel) and finish with 18 holes tomorrow.
That was good news for Ben Curtis. He had birdie putts on the first two holes and was 5-over par before play was suspended.
“It’s crazy. That’s the only way to describe it,” Curtis said. “I’ve never hit two greens in regulation at the start and walked away at 5-over. But hey. At least we had to try.”
And they will try again. Rickie Fowler will hit the opening tee shot of the 2013 season today — for the third time this week.
It was comical from the start. When Matt Kuchar stepped to the 10th tee, a gust blew his golf ball off the tee. And then it happened again.
On the 12th green. Scott Stallings was trying to tap in a 2-foot putt when a gust blew his ball eight feet away.
Charlie Beljan had a search party stomping through high grass to the right of the 10th fairway looking for both his tee shots. He had a 15-foot putt for triple bogey when play was stopped.
“That’s not golf,” said Ian Poulter, who had to back off a birdie putt on the 11th green six times. “I don’t know what that is.’’
The tour insists on a 54-hole tournament, no matter how complicated that will be with the next tournament, the Sony Open, starting on Thursday in Honolulu.
Andy Pazder, the tour’s chief of operations, said television and operational equipment can only be transported to Oahu on a barge that takes 16 hours on a good day.