Players Championship battling bad weather and it will get worse

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The storms arrived as forecast with play halted at The Players Championship at 11 a.m. ET by “dangerous weather” in the area.

No one had completed their first round at TPC Sawgrass and three players – Harold Varner III, Will Zalatoris and Tommy Fleetwood – were tied for the lead at 4 under.

The Tour plans another update at 1 p.m. ET.

Full-field scores from The Players Championship

Overnight, 1.25 inches of rain fell on the Stadium Course and officials began the first round playing preferred lies with more storms in the forecast for the next three days.

“Tomorrow looks like a rough day,” said Tour on-site meteorologist Wade Stettner. “We could be battling thunderstorms throughout most of the day.”

There is an 80% chance of more storms and rain on Friday and that increases to 100% on Saturday, when winds are expected to gust to 35 mph as a cold front moves through the area.

“We need to play golf when we can play golf in order to accomplish the end goal which is, hopefully, finishing the championship by Sunday afternoon,” said Gary Young, the PGA Tour’s chief referee, who also added the setup team was already thinking ahead.

“They are actually setting up for Friday and Saturday’s weather conditions because, most likely, we’ll be finishing up Round 2 on Saturday, completely different wins. There’s a lot of planning going in.”