PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Welcome to Palm Beach County, my friends from Cognizant.
Now you know how the folks from Honda felt.
Most years, golfers get through 72 holes of this PGA Tour event with wind as the only weather challenge. After all, this is the “dry season.”
Most years.
Those who sloshed through the floods and avoided the water moccasins when nearly 8 inches of rain fell during the 2015 tournament will argue that. Or those caught in the deluge two years ago when the leaders were on the 72nd hole might object.
That 2015 storm forced a Monday finish. That was the last time … before Sunday. About 2 ½ inches fell Sunday at PGA National, leading to a 3 ½-hour delay, pushing the final round of the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches into Monday. Play will resume at 8 a.m. ET, with Eric van Rooyen the leader in the clubhouse at 14 under after shooting a 63 Sunday. Austin Eckroat is 15 under with 11 holes to play.
Shane Lowery, the 54-hole leader, played five holes Sunday. He dropped a shot and sits at 12 under.
“Rain delays are tough, especially when you’re playing well,” said Keith Mitchell, who shot a 65 Sunday to finish at 12-under. “You want to keep the train rolling. Sometimes it’s good if you had a bad start and you get to kind of reset.
“I wish there was a secret sauce to them, but you’ve just got to kind of manage.”
Fans started seeking cover just before play was suspended at 12:50 p.m. Overhangs, grandstands, restaurants, the pro shop, hospitality suites like the Champagne Lounge behind the 10th tee box were popular hangouts.
Fans seek shelter behind the 9th green during a thunderstorm at the final round of The Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches at PGA National Resort & Spa on March 1, 2024 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
For some, the storm was good for business. The pro shop sold out of umbrellas. Guessing alcohol sales were brisk, too, in the suites and tents where people sought shelter.
Some fans hung around for golf to resume
Noreen Maloney of Boston is vacationing in Fort Lauderdale. A native of Ireland, she came to see Lowry.
“It’s been a long time since he won,” she said. The 2019 British Open to be exact, at least on the PGA Tour.
But long before her fellow countryman hit his first shot, she was driven off the course. Maloney headed to the covered grandstand behind the 17th green when the rain started and waited out the long delay.
“I seen the way the clouds were turning there, I said ‘I…
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