Sports

Actions

Players endure seven hour rain delay during Meijer Classic opening round

Posted at 11:42 PM, Jun 13, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-13 23:42:12-04

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich -- There was a lot of build up for the 2019 LPGA Meijer Classic at Blythefield Country Club but Mother Nature had some other plans. The course would receive over an inch of rain by Thursday morning and early afternoon, delaying opening tee times by seven hours.

"There's different weather that impacts them wherever they go," said Meijer spokeswoman, Christina Fecher, "this is a first for us at the LPGA Meijer Classic but some players may not tee off tonight, they may have to pick up where they are tomorrow and then we can start round two."

And that is the case, two groups were unable to tee off due to darkness and will golf 36 holes on Friday to complete their first two rounds. Katherine Perry, however, was able to finish her round and is currently tied for the lead at six-under par.

"I thought they did an incredible job getting the course ready for us," she said, "the greens were great and it really wasn't too wet out there, there were only a couple of holes that were holding water so really thankful for the maintenance staff here."

Meanwhile, other players actually enjoyed the delay.

"It was just kind of another round out there today," Karen Chung, who finished the opening round at three-under, said, "I napped all morning so that was nice, I had my alarm set for every 30 minutes but I got a good sleep in so that worked."