Nelson Mandela Championship delayed further
Further rain has delayed the start of inaugural Nelson Mandela Championship. The play was scheduled to start on Friday after showers earlier had waterlogged the fairways, it was expected that the weather will improve a bit, but it was not to be so.
The forecast for Friday was pretty clear but unexpected rains have pushed the start of the tournament to Saturday.
Initially the plan was to start the event early on Friday so that a possible cut could be established on Saturday, but now with further rain, the tournament will surely move on to next week.
The course was already waterlogged especially the fairways. The greens were ‘okay’, but with fairways acting as small ponds, it was not possible for the authorities to start the event.
The tournament organisers tried to shorten some holes in order to get some play underway but even that did not work. They even converted a par-5 into a par-3 hole. Still it was not good enough, such was the condition of the course.
The forecast for the next few days is very dicey, and chances are that it might rain again. However, good sunshine can bring back things to normality, but it does not seem so.
Mikael Erikson first hoped that there would be sunshine on Friday and play would be able to start on time but it all proved otherwise.
After Friday’s play was called off, Mikael Eriksson said, "Every fairway is almost completely under water and there is no chance we will be able to play at all on Friday".
This is bad news for the local golfers as they have been awaiting this tournament for a long time now. The event is also co-sanctioned by Sunshine Tour alongside European Tour.
With it being the first tournament of the 2013 European Tour, players are hoping for a smooth start. However, with rains spoiling their party, things do not paint a good picture.
Conditions are getting tougher and tougher for the players, and once the play gets underway it will be extremely difficult for the golfers to shot low rounds.
Numerous errors will be committed as the fairways are narrow and roughs are extremely tough.
Tags: