Monsoon wreaks havoc on first day of championship

New sponsors Silversea could have sailed one of its cruise liners up the fairways at Foxhills after the opening day of the Senior PGA Professional Championship was wrecked by monsoon conditions.

Just two hours and 20 minutes play was possible as the equivalent of a month’s rain fell at the Surrey venue in 24 hours which PGA tournament director Andrew Snoddy described as ‘the most amount of rain ever’.

Overnight rain caused the start to be delayed until 10am and then play was suspended at 12.20pm. A final decision to call off the day’s action came at 4pm.

Snoddy said: “We suspended play twice today and at 4pm both courses were still unplayable. It is probably the most amount of rain I have seen in a 12 hour period on a golf course in the UK.

“We’re trying to get a 54-hole tournament completed and an extra couple of hours today would have helped.

“Play will start tomorrow at 8am and the second round will follow straight on with the same draw. Hopefully, with luck, we could complete the second round or at worse have two or three holes to complete on Friday morning before making a cut for the final round.”

The nearby Royal Windsor Horse Show, which was due to have the Queen in attendance, was cancelled for the day, so the fact that any play was possible at all at Foxhills was testament to the staff and the drainage qualities of both the Longcross and Bernard Hunt courses.

In that short spell, Scot Robert Arnott (Bishopbriggs Golf Range) rose to the top of a truncated leaderboard with an encouraging two-under-par on the Bernard Hunt course after a brace of birdies.