Tropical storm Debby threatens start of 2024 Wyndham Championship. When will Round 1 begin?

While the PGA Tour has been able to enjoy a relatively uninterrupted season so far, there are now real concerns about the weather that the East Coast of the United States will see in the coming days. To that end, some uncomfortable decisions have been made.

The 2024 Wyndham Championship will start on Friday

According to reports this week, the start of the 2024 Wyndham Championship has been postponed from Thursday, August 7th to Friday, August 8th. It is understood that the PGA Tour took the decision in response to the approach of Tropical Storm Debby which is expected to make landfall in the next 24 hours. Indeed, there is the distinct possibility that the Tour’s last event before the FedEx Cup Playoffs is significantly shortened in an effort to compensate for the weather

Where details are concerned, the tournament was set to tee off at 3:00 p.m. ET at the Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, however, with forecasts predicting heavy rain on Friday, it could be that the tournament doesn’t start until Saturday. Needless to say, the delay is likely to have a significant effect on a number of players who will be hoping to make their way into the top 70 of the FedEx Cup standings and by consequence into the first playoff event, the FedEx St. Jude Invitational which will be staged next week in Memphis, Tennessee.

Such players include the likes of Victor Perez, Davis Riley, Andrew Putnam, Kurt Kitayama, and Luke List, all of whom are would in theory be the first five to be axed when it comes to the top 70 golfers that qualify for the Memphis event. Of course, should the Wyndham Championship go ahead, it’s reasonable to assume that the aforementioned players could secure enough FedEx Cup points, such that they secure a spot among the top 70 and with that, a playoff spot as well.

Regarding how this could potentially play out, we do know that the PGA Tour’s handbook indicates that “If conditions exist which make the completion of 72 holes impossible, the next priority is to complete 54 holes, thereby the winner is credited with an official victory.” To that extent, one can reasonably assume the next increment would be 36 holes, a format that would lead to players receiving money but not FedEx Cup points, while the winner would be awarded an ‘unofficial’ victory. As per the PGA Tour, play “will not extend past Tuesday under any circumstances unless the event can be rescheduled and replayed in its entirety.” If there is a sunny side, it’s based on the idea that forecasts suggest that from Saturday onward the weather will improve. On the other hand, with the kind of rain that’s expected one has to believe the course itself will be waterlogged, a factor that will affect fans and golfers alike.