Wind delays Genesis Invitational
Tiger Woods arrived at Riviera on Saturday just in time for the Genesis Invitational to be delayed by high wind.
Woods, the tournament host, is not playing this year as he recovers from a fifth back surgery. He spent most of the late morning visiting with Dustin Johnson, Xander Schauffele and other players who had time on their hands.
The wind was gusting to 35 mph, strong enough in such dry conditions that golf balls wouldn’t stay on the green. And then a piece of communications equipment was toppled near the 14th tee, and officials halted play.
It was supposed to resume after a delay of just over three hours. But as players were warming up, play was stopped again. Sam Burns, who had a five-shot lead going into the third round, was poised over his opening tee shot when the horn sounded.
“We had some balls move around on the putting greens, which we were able to deal with under the rules,” said Steve Rintoul, the PGA Tour’s tournament director this week. “However, ultimately I think we got into a situation of player safety, safety of our volunteers and everybody else out there on the golf course was our primary reason for shutting things down.”
There would not be enough daylight to finish the third round if play ever resumed.
Auto racing: Joe Gibbs celebrated his first NASCAR victory as a grandfather, watching from the pits as 18-year-old Ty Gibbs won his Xfinity Series debut Saturday on the road course at Daytona International Speedway. It was the very first NASCAR national series race for Ty Gibbs, who jumped two steps from ARCA to Xfinity for his debut. He plowed through the field on a pair of restarts to beat reigning Xfinity Series champion Austin Cindric in double overtime. Gibbs became the youngest driver to win an Xfinity road course race.
NBA: The Nets’ Kevin Durant will miss his fourth straight game on Sunday, as he continues to work through a strained left hamstring . ... Warriors guard Stephen Curry did not play in Charlotte Saturday against the Hornets because he was “not feeling well,” the team announced. The absence was not related to coronavirus protocols. Curry was pulled minutes prior to tip off.
NHL: The setting was spectacular but the ice conditions were far from it, leading to an extended delay between the first and second period of the outdoor game between the Golden Knights and Avalanche at Lake Tahoe. The NHL decided to halt the game for more than eight hours on Saturday after bright sun and temperatures hovering around freezing led to poor ice conditions that had players and officials repeatedly falling because of holes on the ice . ... Sidney Crosby had two assists in his 1,000th NHL game, and the Penguins beat the Islanders 3-2 on Saturday night. Kris Letang scored twice, including a tiebreaking goal in the third period.
Soccer: American forward Jordan Morris left the field on a stretcher with what could be a significant leg injury suffered during Swansea’s 4-2 loss to Huddersfield on Saturday in England’s League Championship. The 26-year-old, on loan from Major League Soccer’s Sounders, entered at the start of the second half and was taken off about 20 minutes later.