The Beatrice Western Open went to Plan B Friday morning. Heavy rains, thunderstorms and a tornado warning hit Butler National Golf Club, postponing the 84th Western`s first round until Saturday.
The tournament, which has been fighting flood waters that swamped the Oak Brook course for a week, will be shortened to 54 holes with a full $800,000 purse paid to the field.
”In 83 years of tournaments, we`ve never played less than a full tournament,” said Western Golf Association publicity director Brian Fitzgerald. ”We`re going to have to do it this time but we hope to be able to put on a good show.”
If Butler National is playable on Saturday, the entire first round will be played there with a cut to the low 60 and ties. The final 36 holes will be played on Sunday.
If all the holes at Butler, the host of the Western since 1974, cannot be played on Saturday, the tournament will be played over nine holes at Butler
(Nos. 11, 12, 3, 4, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17) and the back nine at adjacent Oak Brook Golf Club. The cut and schedule would be the same as if the full Butler course were used.
Friday afternoon`s weather forecast called for a 30 percent chance of more rain with chances of rain increasing to 50 percent. Saturday doesn`t look good either. The chance of rain is 40 percent.
The Western is in danger of becoming the first PGA Tour event since the 1949 Colonial Invitation Tournament to be totally rained out. Tournament officials haven`t ruled out playing on Monday but only as a last resort.
”Last night I thought we were going to play,” said Richard O`Toole, whose Water Hog machines helped clean up Butler in preparation for Friday`s scheduled first round. ”I had never seen anything like this. All the work we did yesterday, we`ll have to do again.”
The pros, meanwhile, spent the last few days wondering when-and if they`d play at all.
”It`s like waiting for the no-school announcement when you were a kid,” said Bruce Edwards, caddy for Tom Watson.
With the delay till Saturday, Oak Brook Golf Club was to be open for practice rounds Friday.
Monday, after about 11 inches of rain since Friday, Butler National looked more like the Great Lakes than one of the country`s great golf courses. By Thursday, no water remained on the course, but silt and mud were a problem. The seventh fairway seemed to be the most severely damaged, but a helicopter was working to dry it as late as 7 p.m. Thursday. A helicopter also was being used on the ninth fairway.
The Western Golf Association, Butler officials and the PGA Tour turned down an offer on Monday to play the tournament at Olympia Fields. Some are questioning that decision and others.
”Fortunately, players don`t vote,” said defending champion Tom Kite.
”There would be too many opinions. It`s unfortunate that they got themselves in a box by not moving the golf tournament.”
Depending on the weather, they could be moving half of the tournament.
