Tournament officials were waiting until noon to decide if play should begin. If the round is rained out, the tournament will be played tomorrow and Thursday instead.
Naturally, the weather was the main topic of conversation among the winners of golf's four major championships.
"As they say in Scotland, 'It's a wee breeze,'" said Nick Faldo, the Masters champion who's accustomed to the wind, coming from Great Britain.
Tom Lehman, the PGA Tour's top money winner, captured the British Open, proving he's capable of winning in the wind, said Mark Brooks, the PGA champion, who comes from Texas, where the wind also blows.
As for Steve Jones, the U.S. Open champion, he just came from the Kapalua International on Maui, where the wind kicked up after a breathless first round. Jones finished in a tie for third, earning $66,625.
And he's more acclimated than the other three. "Twelve days in Hawaii can't be bad," the island-hopping Jones said.
The Grand Slam, a 36-hole, $1 million event, is billed as the toughest tournament in the world to crash. Only the champions of the year's four majors need apply. And they'll be amply rewarded for showing up. The winner gets $400,000, second place is worth $250,000 and third $200,000.
"Last prize ($150,000) isn't exactly chopped liver," Lehman says. "(But) we all want to win. That's the bottom line."
Of the four, only Faldo has had Grand Slam experience, finishing fourth in 1992, when the event was held at the PGA West in LaQuinta, Calif., instead of the Garden Island because of Hurricane Iniki.
Faldo enjoys the format, which is stroke-play with match-play overtones, especially on the final 18 holes.
"You need rearview mirrors, side mirrors and everything to see what everybody else has going on, so it makes it kind of different," Faldo said.
This is the third year in a row that the Grand Slam will be played on the Poipu Bay course.
Last year, Crenshaw holed out a skulled pitching wedge from 60 yards for an eagle-3 n the par 5 18th to beat Corey Pavin and Steve Elkington by one stroke.