PROFESSIONAL GOLF
Rain washes out PGA first day
Associated Press
ST. LOUIS » When the fans came out to watch Tiger Woods, there was no tournament. Arnold Palmer once played in a tournament, but fans couldn't get to the golf course.
St. Louis added yet another chapter to its dreary decade of golf history when the first round of the BMW Championship was washed out by storms that dumped 3 inches of rain on Bellerive Country Club.
"We do know how to deal with adversity," said Jerry Ritter, the general chairman of the BMW Championship and a Bellerive member who has seen his share of it.
Dozens of players were at Bellerive getting ready for the American Express Championship the morning of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It was the first big event in St. Louis since the 1992 PGA Championship. Woods was playing in St. Louis for the first time in his career, but he only got in a practice round before the event was canceled.
Three years later, the U.S. Senior Open came to town, and rain washed out the second round Friday. At least they got in the tournament, with Peter Jacobsen going 36 holes on a creaky hip Sunday to win.
Palmer made his only appearance in the Boone Valley Classic on the Senior PGA Tour in 2000, and the King can draw a big gallery anywhere. But storms that week caused such a problem with traffic that fans couldn't get to Boone Valley.
The silver lining? Palmer returned four years later for the Senior Open, and with the cut pushed back to Saturday because of the rain, they at least saw him on the weekend.
And it's not like the BMW Championship, the third stop in the PGA Tour Playoffs for the FedEx Cup, is a complete wash. The first round was postponed until today, with 36 holes tomorrow to get back on schedule.
The rain relented yesterday afternoon, giving tournament crews about 18 hours to get the course ready. It helps that Bellerive recently installed a new drainage system, which couldn't stop the downpour.
"It's under water," said Slugger White, vice president of rules and competition for the PGA Tour. "It's as bad as I've seen in a long time."
Creeks winding through the golf course transformed into lakes. Players would have needed boats to get across some of the bridges. Some landing areas in the fairways were water hazards.
"It was so bad the ducks took the day off," White said.
The first round originally was delayed for two hours with hopes the storms would pass quickly. Hunter Mahan arrived a few hours before his scheduled tee time, but he knew what to expect when he awoke and called caddie John Wood.
"I said, 'Is it raining?' And he said, 'No, it's pouring,"' Mahan said. "I saw on television that creeks were flooded over and you needed a cart to get to some of the holes. There's just too much water. To hold an event like this, it should be in the best shape possible."
19-year-old McIlroy leads European Masters
CRANS-SUR-SIERRE, Switzerland » Teenager Rory McIlroy shot an 8-under 63 to take the lead after the first round of the European Masters.
The 19-year-old Northern Irishman had missed cuts during the last three weeks.
Garry Houston (66) chipped in for a birdie on the 18th hole for a share of second place with Kyron Sullivan and Julio Zapata.
Moanalua student Tadd Fujikawa shot a 2-over 73 and is 10 strokes back.