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LPGA TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY ROLEXNovember 20, 2009Doug BrechtHOUSTON, TEXAS DOUG BRECHT: Good afternoon. We're playing what I call bonus golf right now, golf we didn't ever expect to be playing today. That's a very good thing, because it gives us the possibility of finishing all 72 holes of this tournament by the end of the day Sunday. We still need a little bit of luck to go with that, but here's what we have laid out. Hopefully the groups playing this afternoon are gonna clear the 1st and 10th hole, the last group will, so that we'll be able to start with the afternoon group of the second round tomorrow morning at 7:00 off 1 one and 10 tees. They'll basically fall right in like they would normally. It'll take that wave about seven hours to finish their round from when the first group tees off to until the last group's in the hole. That gives us until -- actually, it'll take six and a half hours, because there's only an hour and a half worth of time. So that's 8:30; five hours from that is 1:30. We can do a cut and a turnaround in about 30 minutes, so we anticipate starting round three at 2:00. It's gonna take about seven hours for that round to be completed. So we're gonna have three and a half hours of golf that we're gonna play Saturday night, come back at 7:00 Sunday morning and play three and a half more hours of golf. That gets us to 10:30. Make a cut to 30 and ties. Tee off at 11:00, approximately an hour's worth of starting times in groups of three off both tees. With five hours for the last group to play, puts us right at 4:30, 5:00 to finish, which is a few scant minutes of daylight left. (Laughter.) We're pretty lucky right now in that a big storm was headed our way and we didn't think we'd even get to to play as long as we're playing right now. Like most storms that have headed here today, it broke up before it got to us and it's not near as strong or severe as what we originally looked at. We got couple of other issues that we'll see how they pan out. One of them being how much more rain we get tonight, because the storms are definitely not gone. Maintenance is all set to do whatever they need to do let us start in the morning at 7:00. The storms could linger into the morning, which could possible set us back again. And then the number of people that make the cut will be an issue for us, too, because we are playing 70 and ties and 30 and ties. If those tied numbers would creep up into the 80s, that puts more groups on the golf course and that makes the time schedule that I have laid out possibly go a little bit later than what we were planning for. Some good news. We're playing a lot faster than yesterday because, basically because there's less rulings and no wind. So actually playing a little bit faster than the time schedule that I've laid out for us going forward from here. That's basically where we stand right now. Q. Is part of that the ultimate fear that at the end of all this you would get to the leader or the final group on 15, and that's when darkness hits? DOUG BRECHT: If that happens, we'll be back here Monday and we'll finish it up. There's no doubt. Q. There will be no determination in terms of start time for that final round on Sunday afternoon? You're gonna kick that off and try to finish... DOUG BRECHT: Yeah, I'm gonna go as quick as I can the whole way around. If I can play four hours of golf Sunday afternoon, then I'm gonna play four hours of golf Sunday afternoon. Because this is our Tour Championship, it affects player of the year, it affects a lot of -- all the major awards. If affects players going -- who has to go to Q-School and who doesn't have to go to Q-School. It affects players on our priority list and where they fall on that priority list. There's a ton of things riding on this tournament. Because of that and the importance of it, we are committed to playing 72 holes. Q. So is 54 holes pretty much off the table, or are thinking there could be a possibility depending on all the variables you mentioned? DOUG BRECHT: At this point in time, I would say -- I mean, I'm not gonna say 100%, but I'm gonna say we're gonna play 72 holes. Okay? Q. The timeline today, where you guys thought that storm was coming in, was it just. (Recording ended.) DOUG BRECHT: (Recording resumed.) I mean, it actually started at 4:00 this morning, because I got together with my weather man at 4:00 this morning. He let out the scenario to me. I then met him here at 5:00; we started looking at it again, and at 6:00 we were committed to starting this round at 7:00 this morning. About ten till 7:00 it was pouring with rain. It was absolutely ridiculous to start a golf tournament at that point in time for this round in those conditions. So we delayed. We went and looked at the radar. We delayed, at that time, for about an hour. After an hour, the rain had subsided a little bit. We went and looked at the fairways and were pleasantly surprised at the condition, because the golf course was playable. We another big cell that was heading right towards us. Big yellow nasty thing that was gonna dump about another quarter, maybe a little bit more right on top of us. Expected to be out of here probably around 11:00. So that's explains all the decisions we made. We made a decision basically at 8:30 to tell the players that we wouldn't hit a ball until 1:00, and that we would update them at 11:00. Give us a chance to look at the radar, see what else has happened, and update them at 11:00 as to whether 1:00 was a go or not. Well, that big yellow blob disappeared, and there was three hours we could have been playing golf that we didn't get to play golf. As officials, we can only ask what's available to us and what we can see that's right there in front of us. At 11:00 it looked good. There was gonna be some light rain, but the back end of it was pretty dry, looked pretty good. So that's when at 11:00 we said 1:00's a go. We're gonna tee off then. Gotta give them time to warm up on the range, hit some balls, get loose, and then go for their starting time. That's proceeded to here. We looked at the chance of how bad that was gonna be with the rain storm. Here it was light, so that's where are. That's how we got to the decisions we got to and where we are now. Q. Doug, you said it's important that both sides get through the 1st and 10th holes, right? DOUG BRECHT: It helps us out with the time frame that we're looking at, for sure. If they don't, I'll just start the second wave a little bit later. Q. If they don't get through, are you automatically into Monday? DOUG BRECHT: No, no. I'm just -- I'm looking -- I'm an optimist. I'm looking for all the best things I can possibly get. Right now we're on pace for those groups to get where I need for them to get. Again, if they don't, the fact that my pace is better than it was the first round, that helps me buy time that I didn't think I was gonna get. Q. So for your plan, you just need everyone today to have at least nine holes basically? DOUG BRECHT: Yeah. If I can get that -- like I said, I call it bonus golf. If I can get that, I'm pretty happy. Q. I assume you anticipate playing lift, clean, and place throughout the weekend. DOUG BRECHT: It's always an option that we do it round by round. If I had to bet, I would say we still play it through the rest the event. Q. The course is that wet? DOUG BRECHT: It's pretty saturated. The water table here is pretty high. When it does rain, it takes a while -- it does drain off, but it just takes a while for it to do it just because the high water table. Q. What was the exact amount the rain on the course today? DOUG BRECHT: Before we started at 1:00, we had had .64 inches, and I haven't heard an update since then. Been virtually light since then. Maybe another -- maybe a tenth, but that may be too high, too, you guys. I don't know for sure. Q. So you have to start round three at 2:00 p.m. and then round four at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday? DOUG BRECHT: Roughly, yes. End of FastScripts |
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