Organizers postpone 2nd round of Zozo Championship

INZAI CITY, Japan (AP) — Heavy rain washed out the second round of the Zozo Championship on Friday in the PGA Tour’s first tournament in Japan.

Tiger Woods was tied with Gary Woodland after both players shot 64 in the opening round on Thursday.

“Due to heavy rain in the area, the second round has been postponed for the day and will resume on Saturday,” the PGA Tour said in a statement, adding that tee times for the second round will run from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. local time on Saturday.

Woods is making his first start in his 23rd season on the PGA Tour, needing one victory to reach 82 wins and tie the career record held by Sam Snead.

Organizers said the golf course had already taken on an inch of rain early Friday and was “unplayable.” More rain is in the forecast with three to five inches expected on Friday.

Cloudy conditions with the possibility of rain are forecast for the weekend and organizers were confident they could still complete four rounds of golf by Sunday.

In the event that rain continues, the rules committee said a Monday finish remains a possibility.

“Yes, if we’re not able to complete play by Sunday, we will go into Monday, we do have rain predicted for Sunday,” said Gary Young, vice president of rules and competition for the PGA Tour.

Tee times had originally been moved up an hour, but the weather was too extreme to play at all.

American Justin Thomas, who was tied for 25th overall after the opening round, posted a tweet about the severity of the storm. He included a radar picture of the storm and a grimacing face.

The Zozo tournament is part of three tournaments that make up the PGA Tour’s Asia Swing, including the CJ Cup in South Korea won last week by Justin Thomas and the HSBC Champions in Shanghai next week.