Golf: Arizona snow again delays Accenture Match Play Championships

Snow continued to coat the golf course at the Accenture Match Play Championships in Marana, Ariz., on Thursday, delaying play again. Play is expected to get underway in the afternoon, however.

Wednesday’s first round was postponed until Thursday because of snow.

“I’ve seen snow on the course when I was a kid, but nothing like that on any of the tours. It was crazy,” said top-ranked Rory McIlroy, one of 20 players in the 64-man field who never even made it to the first tee Wednesday.

Tiger Woods also was in one of the 10 matches that didn’t start. He will open against Charles Howell III, while McIlroy will face Shane Lowry.

Sunshine is forecast the rest of the week, so tournament organizers say they can complete the entire event on time.

Sixty-four golfers are competing in the match-play event, with the field getting cut in half after each round.

Still, the snow was the topic of the day among the golfers.

“I remember one year in Vegas in a collegiate tournament it was sleeting,” Webb Simpson said. “We all charged toboggans to our coach in the pro shop and he wasn’t too happy about it. This is crazy weather. But we’ve got a great forecast for the weekend, so hopefully, it will melt tonight.”

Carl Pettersson, who isn’t as slim as most of the other golfers at the tournament, finally found a reason to point proudly to his stomach.

“This is one time I have the advantage of being fat,” Pettersson said.

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