WINNIPEG – SPORTS – Overnight rain and a continual downpour all morning and into the afternoon Thursday at Southwood Golf and Country forced officials to postpone the CentrePort Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open’s first round. Even after the rain stopped, the course was so saturated that no player hit a shot in what was to be the opening round. Weather permitting, the tournament’s first round will begin Friday morning at 7:30 CDT.
“Due to four inches of rain over the last 18 hours, the golf course is unplayable. The greens staff did a great job trying to get the course ready for today, but it’s just too wet and it rained too long,” said PGA TOUR Canada Tournament Director Matt Delaney. “We will do our best to hold a 72-hole tournament, and there’s an outside chance we can do that if the weather cooperates, and we have a 36-hole cut without a significant number of players. The plan would be to play 36 holes Sunday. We’ll have to see what happens.”
In addition to this latest storm, the course received 1.5 inches of rain Monday night into Tuesday morning. No additional rain is forecast for the next three days, playing in the tournament’s favor.
This is the seventh tournament of the PGA TOUR Canada’s Fortinet Cup season, with 49 of the top-50 players on the Fortinet Cup standings in this week’s field. Danny Walker sits atop the standings, holding a 41-point lead over Wil Bateman.
