Hallelujah. The reason for the raptures is that the first round finally got completed in the Husqvarna British Masters at the Belfry last night.
The sense of jubilation was on a par with the giddy scenes that greeted Sam Torrance’s winning putt on the Brabazon course in the 1985 Ryder Cup. Well, not quite.
It was still something of a milestone, mind you. The weather, of course, had become a millstone around the necks of flustered tournament organisers as Thursday’s storms caused havoc.
The DP World Tour officials were left with the kind of head-scratching, logistical hassle that was broadly equivalent to the task auld Noah faced when he had to shepherd a variety of biblical beasts up the gangplank of his floating zoo.
At 5:19 p.m. on Friday night,
though, there was some light at the end of the tunnel. Almost 35 hours after round one had started, it finally got finished. Hang out the Belfry bunting.
If you’re trying to keep up to speed with affairs in the west midlands then good luck. Play was halted at about 8 p.m. Friday with a number of players partially through Round 2. Half the field, meanwhile, had yet to start their second circuit.
If Mother Nature plays ball, we might get everybody through 36-holes at some point Saturday but tournament chiefs have said that Round 3 won’t start before 4 p.m. Are you still following all this?
One man who seemed to enjoy the delay was Englishman Tyrrell Hatton. The 34-year-old, who became a father in May, drove back to his Buckinghamshire home for a few hours amid the delays Thursday and returned to complete a 3-under 69 on Friday before embarking on Round 2.
“I had a great day,” he said. “I spent the day at home. A lot of time on the sofa but it's not a bad thing.”
It was another Englishman who illuminated affairs on day two as Marco Penge conjured a cracker on his opening hole as he moved to the top of a messy leaderboard.
Starting on the 10th tee, Penge found the green with his drive and rolled in the putt for an eagle-2 from 11 feet.
Those of a certain vintage will remember that the great Seve Ballesteros became the first player to drive this hole in the Hennessey Cup back in 1978. There’s plaque to commemorate that feat too.
It’s a different ball game these days in terms of distance, of course, but Penge’s batter was still worthy of a doff of the cap.
“In terms of execution it was 10 out of 10,” he said. “That was a shot I’ll probably be watching back 30 or 40 times this evening in bed.”
When the klaxon sounded to bring Day 2 to a close, Penge was 8 under for his round through 14 holes – he began his back nine with four birdies in five holes – and was sitting at the top of the leaderboard on 11 under.
On the home front, meanwhile, Ewen Ferguson was making decent progress in the upper echelons and was at six-under when the latest suspension kicked in.
The Bearsden man, a three-time winner on the DP World Tour, completed an opening 67 and was then one-under through 10-holes of his second round.
Aberdonian David Law was back on the two-under mark halfway through his delayed second round while a host of other Scots found themselves in something of a no man’s land as they tried to play catch up.
Friday at the Belfry had been a marathon. It’ll be more of the same over the weekend.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Tyrrell Hatton went home during rain delay, returned to finish round hours later
