The Rain Delays New Reigns

The winner is a foregone conclusion, the course is a puddled mess, the sand traps look more like water hazards, Greg Norman has already skipped town and more rain is forecast for today, yet the PGA’s Tour Championship refused to shut down Sunday, suspending but not canceling its final round.

Swamped by an early-morning thunderstorm that dropped nearly two inches of rain on Tulsa before noon, the Southern Hills Country Club golf course was deemed unplayable Sunday by PGA officials, who waited another three hours before announcing they would try to get in the final 18 holes today, with tentative tee time scheduled for 9:30 a.m. (CST).

“This is an important championship,” PGA Commissioner Timothy Finchem said, explaining the decision not to call the tournament after 54 holes.

“It’s the end of the season, there are a number of individual matters riding on the outcome of the event, this is a substantial purse. Subsequently, we felt it was important to give our best effort to carry it to 72 holes.”

Specifically, the PGA player of the year award and the Arnold Palmer Trophy, presented annually to the tour’s top money winner, are riding on the outcome of this tournament. Had the tournament been canceled Sunday, Tom Lehman, nine strokes clear of the field after three rounds, likely would have swept both.

With a Tour Championship victory, Lehman stands to win $540,000, which would bring his 1996 money total to $1,780,159. Presently, Phil Mickelson tops the money winners list at $1,716,999 and is tied for seventh here, which would earn him an additional $96,000--not enough to catch Lehman.

But Mickelson is only one stroke out of fourth place and four strokes out of second. If he plays today and finishes fourth, Mickelson wins $144,000, which would leave him the tour’s No. 1 money winner at $1,860,999.

The PGA player of the year award, determined by a point system based on tournament victories, money standing and scoring average, would also go to Lehman if current Tour Championship standings hold.

“There’s an awful lot going on with this tournament and a lot of impacts arising out of this tournament,” Finchem said. “Our objective is to have a 72-hole competition.”

If playing conditions do not improve by this morning, however, Finchem conceded that the tournament will probably have to be postponed.

“We understand the weather forecast is worse for [Monday] night and Tuesday,” Finchem said. “We feel we have a window to get in [the final round Monday], and we’re going to try our best.”

Either way, Norman won’t be around to find out. The PGA’s top money winner of 1995 withdrew from the Tour Championship once he learned the fourth round would be delayed. After three rounds, Norman was tied for 12th, 15 strokes behind Lehman. By bailing after 54 holes, Norman will share last-place money ($48,300 apiece) with Loren Roberts, who withdrew before the tournament because of a bad back.

That leaves Lehman and 27 other golfers, waiting to see if the tide subsides inside the bunkers.

Unless he drowns or is swept into the Arkansas River, Lehman isn’t likely to squander a nine-stroke lead. Nine strokes after 54 holes is the largest first-place advantage at a PGA event in 23 years, fueling speculation that the tournament would be called off Sunday. “The consensus among the players back at the hotel,” Lehman said, “was that the tournament was over.”

Lehman was less than convinced.

“Any time you’re leading, you don’t want to be thinking that way,” Lehman said. “So I was talking to Duffy Waldorf and Ernie [Els] and they were saying we’re not going to play. And I told them, ‘I guarantee you we’ll be out there knee-deep in mud if you have to finish this tournament.’ ”

Or, if not stuck in mud, at least stuck in Tulsa one more night.

Which, Lehman claimed, was OK by him.