The third round of the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions has been suspended after severe winds in the Orlando, Florida area.
Saturday’s round at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club was defined by cold weather and a wind that steadily increased throughout the day. The temperatures were around 50 degrees Farenheit, but felt much colder with that heavy wind that was going over 20 MPH.
Around 3:00 local time, it started to really impact play, and leader Nelly Korda was able to get into the clubhouse mostly unscathed. Even she faced danger on the par 3 17, her one bogey of the day.
17 became a sight of a large backup among the golfers with a significant delay from defending champion A Lim Kim, who was having trouble keeping her ball still on the green. The real moment that changed everything was Youmin Hwang hitting a putt just a bit over 15 feet that looked like it would stop near the hole. It kept moving though and eventually trickled off the green and into the rough.
Unfortunately for Hwang, there are no do overs, and the tournament staff determined from her putt that the course would be unplayable, and just announced the round would not be continued today.
This leaves the tournament in a difficult spot. Even as early as Wednesday, tournament organizers were preparing for a shortened round four window thanks to a heavy frost coming in over Saturday night. Temperatures are supposed to stay in the 20s and 30s for much of the day.
At the moment, Nelly Korda holds a three-stroke lead over Amy Yang, who still has two holes to complete her third round. A reminder, the LPGA considers any event with at least 54 holes played to be official.
The LPGA recently announced they would come back with a plan for Sunday’s round. Stay tuned to Fore-All.com for updates.
