Fairways flooded, fans banned, Monday finish: Here’s the new Zozo schedule
Tiger Woods is guaranteed to remain the Zozo Championship co-leader for a little longer.
Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club took on over six inches of rain on Friday courtesy of Typhoon Bualoi. As a result, play was cancelled for the day (with good reason!) and is expected to resume Saturday morning. Here’s what you need to know about the restart plans for the Zozo.
Flooded fairways
Narashino Country Club was hammered with six-plus inches of rain, which immediately flooded the course. You can see from Ian Poulter’s dramatic video of the 10th fairway that, uh, golf would seem impossible for now.
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Updated Zozo Championship tee times
The PGA Tour announced that it wouldn’t be able to start of the second round until at least 9:30 a.m. local time on Saturday. Even that timeline seems miraculous, given the flooding on the fairways and in the streets. But play is expected to resumed at 8:30 p.m. ET Friday (Chiba, Japan is 13 hours ahead). Gary Woodland is off the 10th tee at 10:10 a.m. (9:10 p.m. ET); he shares the lead with Woods, who tees off at 11:10 a.m. (10:10 p.m. ET). You can see complete times below.
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Fan-free Saturday
Saturated conditions and safety issues dictated another unusual wrinkle to Saturday’s second round at the Zozo: no spectators allowed. That will serve as a distinct contrast to Thursday’s opening round, which saw packed galleries for the first official PGA Tour event to be held in Japan.
Monday finish
While initial reports called for 27 holes to be played Saturday and 27 more on Sunday, tournament officials are now planning for a Monday finish at the Zozo in an effort to get all 72 holes in. The weather forecast is relatively clear for Saturday, but more rain is expected Sunday.
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