The weather forecast early in the week for THE PLAYERS Championship always indicated Thursday and Friday would be the most unpredictable with delays. Even with more storms early Saturday, we've got a new start time — 12 p.m. ET.
THE PLAYERS Championship will resume at noon ET.
Second round tee times
First wave: noon-2:01 p.m.
Second wave: 5-7:01 p.m (approx.)— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) March 12, 2022
Play was suspended Friday at 11:15 a.m. local time and never did resume. There are still golfers who need to finish their first round — Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa among them. When the PGA TOUR suspended play on Friday, it came with an announcement that the tournament would not begin again until 11 a.m. Saturday at the earliest.
However, thunderstorms spanned across the morning and a tornado watch was issued delaying things even further.
A start time was pushed back to 12 p.m. ET at the earliest. But there's at least progress, with practice facilities opening at 10:30 a.m. ET.
Saturday's PLAYERS Weather Forecast
At 11 a.m. local time, there remains a 20% chance of rain but that's expected to be the last of it.
As has been the story all week, the wind will be a huge factor.
Winds will sit between 20 and 30 mph with gusts reaching 35 mph. The temperature will drop throughout the day from 70 degrees down to 49 degrees by 5 p.m.
After the tournament starts on Saturday, they will play until around sunset. That's expected to be around 6:30 p.m.
The players currently on the course will turn around and start their second round right after. The players who began and completed play on Thursday will be the second group to tee off Saturday. That makes it extremely unlikely those players will finish on Saturday.
The more realistic option seems to be the first round's original afternoon wave will complete both rounds on Saturday with Thursday's early wave — including leaders Tommy Fleetwood and Tom Hoge — will begin late Saturday and finish in better conditions on Sunday.
