Zozo C'ship: Weather halts Tiger, rain postpones second round

The start of the second round is scheduled to get underway early on Saturday morning after rain wreaked havoc in Japan.

According to Gary Young, the golf course had reached the point of saturation and become unplayable.

Heavy rain forced the second round of the Zozo Championship to be postponed, organisers announced on Friday.

Officials made the decision to push the start of the second round back to Saturday due to forecasts of bad weather throughout the day in Chiba, Japan. The second round is scheduled to get underway between 06:30 and 08:30 am local time at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club, where Tiger Woods is tied for the lead.

"The golf course has already taken on 4/10s of an inch of rain, so it has actually reached the point of saturation and it's become unplayable," said vice-president of rules and competitions Gary Young.

"With more rain in the forecast and three to five inches of rain for the day, we thought the right decision was to call play for the day."

Woods delivered a masterclass on Thursday as the 15-time major champion earned a share of the lead after the opening round.

A birdie spree

American superstar Woods — featuring at the first official PGA Tour tournament held in Japan — rode a birdie spree to card a stunning six-under-par 64 and join Gary Woodland atop the leaderboard.

Co-leaders @TigerWoods and @GaryWoodland.

Sometimes their lines are even lower than their scores pic.twitter.com/sSTPyxXJiP

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 25, 2019

 

Woods endured a nightmare start in Japan, where the former World No. 1 found water after his opening tee shot. Another shot went into the trees as Masters champion Woods was left reeling at three over through just three holes.

However, Woods — who underwent an arthroscopic procedure on his left knee to repair minor cartilage damage in August — produced a remarkable recovery, making nine birdies over the ensuing 15 holes to catapult himself up the standings.