Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images. Pictured: Liberty National Golf Club.
The first leg of the FedExCup Playoffs is going to have to finish on a Monday at the earliest.
With Henri picking up steam and rain looking likely all day on Sunday in Jersey City, N.J., the PGA TOUR announced that the final round of the 2021 Northern Trust will be postponed.
According to weather.com on Saturday morning, there was at least a 60% chance of rain on Sunday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. local time in New Jersey. The TOUR was well aware of the possibility of a Monday finish and issued a statement on Friday afternoon that they were monitoring the situation.
The postponement became a reality at 1:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Play on Monday is slated to begin no earlier than 7:30 a.m. https://t.co/M16I2G5jlp
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 21, 2021
Since then, though, the forecast for Henri has intensified and the chance of additional rain on Monday has increased. There are scattered storms in the forecast throughout the day.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Henri is now a Category 1 storm and is expected to make landfall on Long Island late on Saturday or early Sunday.
The storm will continue into the Northeast into next week, extending into New England and up the coast through Wednesday.
As of early Saturday afternoon, it appeared that New Jersey was expected to miss a direct hit, although the storm is expected to feature heavy winds, some flooding and cause potentially cause power outages.
Obviously, this is a less-than-ideal time for the TOUR to potentially be delayed. The Northern Trust is the first part of the three-tournament FedExCup Playoffs, which will continue next week at the BMW Championship.
Only 70 of the 125 players in this week’s Northern Trust field will make their way down to the Baltimore area for the BMW, and players would have even less time to familiarize themselves with Caves Valley Golf Club ahead of that tournament.
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