Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 15, 1990 TAG: 9007150081
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: DULUTH, GA. LENGTH: Medium
A strong overnight rain delayed the completion of the second round again, and the best that officials could hope for was a 36-hole final Sunday.
The U.S. Golf Association's plan to finish the second round before noon and begin third-round play in the afternoon was foiled when the Atlanta Athletic Club's Riverside course was drenched by overnight rains. Four inches of rain doused the Atlanta area in a 24 hour period.
Instead, the 102 players who had either not yet started or not yet completed their second rounds resumed play in the afternoon.
Patty Sheehan continued the lowest scoring pace in the 45-year history of the Women's Open. She completed the remaining 15 holes of her second round in 3 under par to shoot a 4-under-par 68.
That score gave her a 36-hole total of 10-under 134, six shots better than Jane Geddes, who completed her second round Friday and did not play Saturday.
Sheehan's halfway total is the lowest ever shot in the Open, breaking Betsy King's record of 138 by four shots.
Sheehan also became the first player to reach 10-under at any point in the Open. In the men's U.S. Open, no player has ever reached 10 under par, although four players reached 9-under this year at Medinah (Ill.).
If all goes well, and nothing has so far, the tournament will end Sunday with 36 holes of play.
Play will begin in threesomes off the first and 10th tees in the morning round.
To save time, the pairings or their order will not change for the afternoon round.
Caroline Pierce was in the first group Friday and finished her second-round 74 shortly after 1 p.m. By the time she tees off Sunday, almost 44 hours will have passed since she hit her last shot.
"It feels weird," Pierce said Saturday. "I feel lucky to have finished. Some of these other players must be exhausted."
In extreme cases, players had their second-round starting time postponed four times since Friday.
Counting Saturday, the Women's Open has encountered rain 14 of the past 21 days of competition, going back to the 1986 Open at the NCR Club in Dayton, Ohio.
The next year, at Plainfield, N.J., the final round was completed Monday and didn't end until an 18-hole playoff was completed Tuesday afternoon.
"I've never seen a streak like the one that's hit us in the last few years," said Judy Bell, a member of the golf association's executive committee, who played in six Women's Opens in 1950-72. "Our director of competition, P.J. Boatwright, says this tournament is snakebit."
The Women's Open, like the men's championship, used to end with a 36-hole finale. That policy was changed in 1965. Since then, bad weather has never forced the women to play the final 36 holes in one day.
"The stamina required to play 36 holes used to be considered part of the test," Bell said. "This year it will be again. We will get the best player this week. It could be a wonderful finish."
It could also set up a confusing one.
As the golf association has planned the 36-hole finale, the leaders after the second round will tee off at 8:03 a.m. Sunday for the third round.
The same threesome, regardless of what its members shoot, will tee off at 1:33 p.m. for the fourth round.
Because players could move up the leader board dramatically in the third round but would still tee off in the same order in relation to the second-round leaders, the eventual winner of the tournament could finish as much as an hour ahead of the group made up of the second-round leaders.
by CNB