Presidents Cup matches delayed by Saturday morning fog

Those who woke up early to watch the first action of the Presidents Cup’s third session Saturday morning may have been disappointed.

After the first match completed the first hole and the second was walking to their opening tee shots, PGA Tour officials blew the horn at Royal Montreal, suspending play at 7:23 a.m. ET due to heavy fog.

Playing in the second group, Tony Finau, playing alongside Xander Schauffele in the fourballs session, had to look to the jumbotron to follow his tee shot, which found the fairway anyway. His opponents, Canadians Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes, both went well left with their drives, but the home crowd, unable to see where the ball was going, roared with cheers both times.

The left fairway bunker on the 1st hole at Royal Montreal, about 270 yards off the tee, was completely obscured by fog when play was suspended.

The PGA Tour initially hoped to keep the players in place while they waited for the fog to lift, even putting the first group in a hospitality suite near the 2nd tee, but after about 15 minutes, both of the first two groups were pulled off the golf course, as players were still allowed to use the range.

Reporting on the ground at Royal Montreal for GOLF this week, James Colgan described the morning’s conditions as “foggy, a little cold, and frankly surprising that play was allowed to begin.”

“If you woke up before dawn for the start of today’s fourball session, you didn’t see much golf before it was stopped,” Colgan said. “We’re sitting and waiting a little bit longer. The good news is, if you didn’t wake up early on this Saturday morning, you’ll be getting golf well into the evening.”

When NBC picked up third-day coverage at 8 a.m. ET, PGA Tour lead TV rules and video analyst Mark Dusbabek reported it would be some time before play could resume.

“It’s going to take a while for this to burn off,” Dusbabek said. “We have to be able to see and to navigate the golf course.”

Around 8:40 a.m., the Tour announced a resumption of play for 9 a.m. and adjusted the third and fourth groups’ tee times to account for the one-hour-and-36-minute delay.

Saturday’s official PGA Tour forecast prepared by meteorologist Wade Stettner called for partly cloud skies and a high of 70F degrees.

The third day of the Presidents Cup features eight total matches with four fourball matches going off first thing in the morning and then a fourth session of four foursomes matches teeing off in the afternoon.

Sunset this evening at Royal Montreal is 6:41 p.m. ET.

The Presidents Cup is tied after the Americans swept the opening fourballs session on Thursday and the Internationals authored a thrilling 5-0 comeback of their own Friday in foursomes.

This is a developing story and will be updated as new information becomes available.

Jack Hirsh

Golf.com Editor

Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as head coach. Jack also still *tries* to remain competitive in local amateurs. Before joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting the weather. He can be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com.