Seasonal high winds blew the Johnnie Walker Classic golf tournament off course on Thursday when strong gusts forced the first day's play to be abandoned. Adam Scott was leading at three under par after nine holes when play was suspended early in the day, with the heavy breeze blowing balls off tees and around greens at the exposed Pine Valley course outside Beijing. Top golfers including Colin Montgomerie were later sent back to their hotels as the winds failed to die down and the entire day was called off.
About half the 150-strong field were unable even to play a shot and nobody completed a round.
Australia's Scott was followed on the leaderboard by France's Jean-Francois Lucquin, Jose Manuel Lara of Spain and South Korea's K.J. Choi on two under.
But elsewhere players struggled. Six-time major winner Nick Faldo was four over after nine holes and China's Tai Fu was nine over after 14.
The abandonment is an early setback for the 2.3 million dollar tournament - the richest ever staged in mainland China - which has attracted the cream of world golf including four of the planet's top 10 players.
In the build-up to the tournament, many players were unable to complete practice rounds due to the gusty conditions.
It is the first time the nomadic event, staged at a different venue every year, has been held at Pine Valley.
Play was due to resume at 6:30 am (2330 GMT) on Friday which it is expected to be "much less windy", according to a forecast prepared by the organisers.
Other forecasts have predicted sandstorms this week in Beijing, which sits at the northern tip of the North China Plain and is prone to high winds at this time of year.
Comments
Comments are closed.