RAIN HITS VICTORIAN PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

Australia seems to be getting more than its fair share of rain at the moment. The first round of the 2011 Cellarbrations Victorian PGA Championship has been suspended after torrential rain plagued Sandhurst this morning.
While rain has eased this afternoon (local time), the Sandhurst North Course has been deemed unplayable due to the sheer amount of water in the bunkers.
The first round is set to recommence at 6.30am tomorrow, Saturday, morning.
Following the conclusion of Round 1 tomorrow a cut will immediately be made to 78 players plus ties.
Round 2 will then commence with a two-tee start.
It is hoped that Round 2 will be completed on Sunday morning by about 10am after which another cut to 50 plus ties will be made and Round 3 will commence.
With no further delays, it is expected the 54 hole event will finish at approximately 4pm on Sunday afternoon as originally scheduled.
“Unfortunately there is no way in the world that we can get the course back into a playable position today because of the bunkering,” said the Australian PGA’s Director of Tournaments Andrew Langford-Jones.
“Every bunker out there is choc-a-bloc and we can’t find anywhere for players to drop at the back of bunkers, and because so many players have played so many holes we cannot change the conditions that we started with.”
“Every shot that was played this morning will be counted.”
At the time of suspension, 9.05am, seven players were tied for the lead at two-under par.
The seven include professionals Peter O’Malley, Kurt Barnes, James Nitties, Tony McNaughton and Michael Faraone and amateurs Todd Sinnott and Tom Power-Horan.