LIGHTNING THREAT HALTS WEB.COM 

TOUR EVENT IN BRAZIL


FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE

SAO PAULO, Brazil – Michael Connell was less than 10 minutes from finishing one the best rounds of his career when lightning storms rolled over the Sao Paulo Golf Club for the third straight day and halted play with half the field left to finish the opening round of this week's Web.com Tour event, the  Brasil Champions presented by HSBC.
Connell was 7-under and bogey-free for 17 holes and had just plopped his tee shot at the par-3, 9th hole to about 15-20 feet when horns sounded at 3:30 p.m. and sent golfers scurrying for cover.
“The frustrating thing isn’t the fact that we didn’t get to finish,” said Connell, who will record the second-best score of his career and match the official course record if he cans the birdie putt for a 63. 
“It’s the fact that we have to sit here and waste the energy for the rest of the day. We know we have to play more golf.”
No rain fell but the threat remained and officials called off play for the day at 5:15 pm and announced that the round will resume at 7:00 a.m. Friday local time.
When play continues, Connell, who lives in Austin, Texas, will be staring at a birdie putt to take over the first-round lead from clubhouse dwellers Daniel Berger and Jeff Curl, who knocked a pair of 7-under 64s in the morning session.
Tom Gills, Tom Hoge and Australian Ash Hall all posted 6-under 65s and currently share fourth place with Aussie Adam Crawford, who has to two holes to go.
Casey Wittenberg, Brad Schneider and Sung Kang are in at 66 while Byron Smith and Cliff Kresge are each 5-under with two holes to play.
Berger, who left Florida State Univesity after two standout seasons, jumped into contention early with three birdies and an eagle in his first five holes. The eagle at the 550-yard, 13th was the highlight.
“I probably made the longest putt I’ve ever made in my life,” said the 20-year old from Jupiter, Florida. “I hit a 3-wood in there to about 80 feet and just dropped it in. When I’m sitting over it I’m thinking I’d be happy with a two-putt birdie. It was a good putt. Die speed and dead centre.”
From there Berger did his best to avoid the rough that has grown and thickened because of consistent rains the past couple of weeks. Fairways are the key to success this week and officials started the round with lift, clean and place conditions in effect, putting a greater emphasis on accuracy.
“There are a few holes you don’t think about hitting driver on,” said Curl. “That rough is no good right now and it’s getting worse. You don’t want to be in it.”

• Thursday weather: Partly cloudy. Winds NE 6-12 mph and turning S 10-20 mph at 3 pm. Daytime high of 86 degrees.
• Last year 74 players made the 36-hole cut which was 2-under-par 140. • Hunter Haas’ 6-under 29 on the front nine is a new tournament record.

• Blayne Barber shot a 4-under 67 but was disqualified for not signing his scorecard. Barber had initialled a change to a score on his card but did not sign the card before leaving the scoring area.