Verizon Heritage Monday: Slugger loses a heavyweight contest

You’d think someone called Slugger White would either change name of change sport. He sounds more Mike Tyson than Tiger Woods to me. The PGA Tour tournament director certainly had the fight taken out of him by Sunday’s howling winds. He put up a solid enough struggle, but lost on points in the late afternoon.

Contrary to the suggestion of a fellow scribe or two, play was not just called off on safety grounds (or the related insurance nightmare in ’sue your ass’ America). Balls were racing across greens like bullet trains without a shot being played. It was becoming less a golf match, more a spot the ball competition. So even though I absolutely hate things spilling over into Monday, I have no doubt they made the right decision.

Now punters are left with a bit of a problem. The wind has not gone away. Best guidance I could get Sunday was that it would let up enough to get play going from the crack of dawn. But the wind may get back into the 20-40 mph range by mid morning, threatening another suspension. So it might be a race against time to get more than half the field home before sundown.

And if half the field doesn’t make it by close of play, we already have our winner: Jerry Kelly on his 54-hole score.

If it does, and the weather still halts proceedings, we’re back Tuesday to finish it off. Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ….

Excuse me while I go do some serious praying.