Fans strolled near the clubhouse during the final round of The Players Championship golf tournament on Sunday in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The enthralling tournament was abruptly suspended due to lightning in the area at the Florida venue. Tee times had been rescheduled in an effort to complete the PGA Tour’s flagship event before incoming storms, but play was halted at 1:15 p.m. ET (5:15 p.m. GMT) when rain and thunderstorms rolled in at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach. Spectators were urged to leave the premises for their safety, as lightning in the vicinity prompted the suspension of play, according to tournament organizers and PGA Tour Communications.
Meanwhile, severe storms have wreaked havoc across the Midwest and Southern United States, resulting in at least 35 fatalities since Friday. With more than 60 million people under the threat of severe weather on Sunday from Pennsylvania to Florida as the storm system moves eastward. The PGA Tour had anticipated storms hitting the Stadium Course between 3 and 5 p.m., prompting an earlier start time of 8 a.m. ET to avoid a potential Monday finish for the first time since 2022. The tournament organizers announced that the final round is set to resume Sunday afternoon.
World No. 2 Rory McIlroy holds the lead in the tournament, having completed 11 holes before the play suspension, with American J.J Spaun trailing by one shot and one hole. McIlroy had a one-shot lead before play was stopped. McIlroy, from Northern Ireland, made a strong birdie-eagle start to challenge the 54-hole leader Spaun, who is vying to become the lowest-ranked player to win the tournament since 2017 at world No. 57. Tom Hoge, Akshay Bhatia, and Danny Walker, all American players, are just two shots behind McIlroy, the 2019 champion. While Hoge has one hole remaining, Bhatia and Walker, ranked No. 23 and No. 284 respectively, will have opportunities to close the gap with six holes left to play. The champion stands to win a $4.5 million share of the $25 million prize purse.
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