PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas - Faced with a flooded course in which some fairways were more suited for fishing than playing golf, the LPGA Tour found a unique solution Thursday.
It shortened the Ocean Club to 12 holes for at least the first round of its inaugural Bahamas Classic.
The only other option might have been to cancel the tournament.
A storm the locals haven’t seen in 20 years poured a foot of rain on Paradise Island earlier in the week. A lake that separates the ninth and 18th holes turned into a lagoon, setting off a chain reaction of drainage problems. Even with nine pumps siphoning water back into the ocean, progress was slow.
“Every time I come up with a decision, a third of my tour doesn’t like it. But I can’t be afraid of that,” LPGA Tour Commissioner Mike Whan said. “I don’t expect people to love the outcome, but it’s better than the alternative. … Everybody who plays over the next few days is going to play the same thing. It’s OK not to like it.”
Whan listened to a spirited discussion about the Bahamas Classic counting as official.
The LPGA Tour policy says a tournament has to be 36 holes to be official, and this likely will be every bit of that - if not more. The tournament will start today over 12 holes, and the number of holes could be expanded each day depending on how fast the water drains. The hope was for an 18-hole finish Sunday.
“I feel sorry for Pure Silk,” Juli Inkster said. “They’ve done a hell of a job with the tournament.”
Ohio-based Pure Silk signed on with the Bahamas Tourism Ministry as title sponsors of the $1.3 million event, the first time the LPGA Tour has come to the Bahamas.
“I think we should play,” Inkster said. “We should play as many as we can and crown a winner. I just think we’re here and everyone has the same opportunity to play well and win. It’s a rare thing that’s happened once since I’ve been out here, and I’ve been out here a long time.”
Inkster and Laura Davies were at the 1988 Kemper Open in Hawaii, which not only was shortened to 54 holes because of torrential rain, but only 16 holes were used for the first round because two holes were under water.
Stacy Lewis (Arkansas Razorbacks) won an LPGA event as an amateur in 2007 at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers where it rained so hard it took three days to get in 18 holes, but that did not count as an official tournament because golfers didn’t complete 36 holes.
“It’s strange to play 12 holes a day, but we’re all going to play the same holes,” Lewis said. “When you get out there and play, you do the best you can.”
So how flooded is the course? Lewis passed along a whopper of a tale.
Lewis said she was on the course Wednesday afternoon with Brittany Lincicome with fishing rods instead of golf clubs. Wading along in the ninth fairway, Lewis said she hooked a tarpon she estimated at about 4 feet. The tarpon spun high out of the water and broke the line.
“I’ve hooked some big ones,” Lewis said, “but I’ve never seen a fish that big on a golf course.”
Sports, Pages 24 on 05/24/2013