The second round of the Ricoh Women’s British Open was suspended Friday morning because of adverse weather with scores from that abbreviated round subsequently being declared null and void.
Golf Channel’s Tom Abbott reports that players were on the course at Royal Liverpool Golf Club for one hour and 18 minutes when play was first suspended at 8:18 a.m. local time (3:18 a.m., ET) with some competitors playing up to four holes.
Winds gusted up to 60 mph, the Associated Press reported. England’s Felicity Johnson made a quintuple-bogey 9 at the first hole. Cristie Kerr had her ball blown off the 12th tee three times.
Abbott reported Angela Stanford, Kerr, Michelle Wie and Suzann Pettersen were among players who met with tournament officials to discuss whether scores should be declared null and void. Players declined to comment after the meeting, but shortly after the meeting the tournament rules committee announced it was abandoning scores, citing Rule 33-2d.
"I think it's the right decision," Kerr told ESPN. "It's just a hard situation. It was just really, really, really bad."
Tournament officials are hopeful they can resume play at 3 p.m. local time (10 a.m., ET).
The Ladies Golf Union released this statement: “The competitors began their round in extremely adverse weather conditions and conditions subsequently worsened despite our belief that they would remain stable. It would have been unfair to those competitors not to declare play null and void and cancel all scores for the round in question.”
Player tweets summarized the tough conditions:
Karen Stupples: “Was sheer craziness out there.”
Kerr: “We never should have teed off . . . Played in unplayable conditions this a.m. for 2 1/2 holes.”