First-round play at the Evian Championship was suspended on Thursday morning due to unplayable course conditions. Play is scheduled to restart at 7:45 a.m. local time on Friday morning and all scores from Thursday have been erased.
Rain forced first-round tee times to originally be delayed two hours and the first shot of the inaugural Evian Championship was struck at 9:45 a.m. local time. At 10:30 a.m. play was suspended due to rain saturating an already wet golf course, making conditions unplayable.
Nearly four inches of rain have fallen on the Evian Resort Golf Club since Saturday. The rain combined with unusually hot weather during the month of August has put a lot of stress on a newly renovated golf course.
While officials had hoped to resume play at some point on Thursday, play was suspended for the day at noon local time. A total of 15 players were on the golf course when play was halted but the decision was made to scratch those scores and restart the first round on Friday morning.
“It was pretty wet; I think we’ve just had too much rain and it came down harder than we thought it would,” said Cindy LaCrosse, who was leading at 1-under through one hole when play was suspended. “The greens just couldn’t hold that much water and the right decision was made, unfortunately for me. Hopefully tomorrow is better.”
First and second-round pairings will remain the same. A cut to the leading 70 players plus ties will be made at the conclusion of the second round on Saturday and officials intend to complete both the third and fourth rounds (36 holes) on Sunday.