High Winds Suspend First Round of European Tour Event


The opening round of the Madeira Islands Open in Portugal has been suspended due to extremely high winds. The European Tour event tried to get underway Thursday at the Club de Golf do Santo de Serra, but officials decided to not even start it and reduced the tournament to 54 holes.

The golf course in the Madeira Islands is situated atop a mountain and is known for its breezy conditions. But because of the high morning winds - with gusts reaching 47 mph - none of the players teed off on their opening rounds. When the winds didn't abate as the day wore on, officials canceled play until Friday.

"We have not started the first round due to the very strong winds we have suffered for the whole day today," tournament director José Maria Zamora told the European Tour's website.

"When we got here this morning the winds were reaching 30-35 kilometers per hour with gusts of up to 80 kilometers per hour so despite the efforts we've made - we didn't cut the greens for the last two days because we knew about this forecast - winds have been too strong and gusty.

"Every time we sent our referees to check, the balls were moving on the green. The players have been waiting in the players' lounge now for up to eight hours, so the best option is to send them back and start fresh tomorrow. For anybody that's been here all week this week, they will have seen that on Monday it was absolutely gorgeous, 25 degree heat and not a breath of wind, so it's just a matter of us being very, very unlucky.

"It's very difficult for the players to keep concentration and motivation and for a lot of players here this week, this event is one of the biggest events of the season. They've been very patient and they haven't got upset at all so we thank them for that."

The European Tour's on-site meteorologist, Guy Nestor, suggested to officials that the start of play be tabled until Friday, when the weather is expected to change, but perhaps not for the better. "The forecast that I called for is for those winds to increase as we get to the mid- and late- afternoon and in to the evening hours," Nestor said.

"The good news is that the winds will die down as we get into Friday, it'll still be windy but as we head through the day they should decrease, considerably as we head into the weekend.

"The problem we do have on Friday is that that upper low-pressure system moves closer to us and that will allow for periods of rain and even the odd thunder storm is not out of the question. So we'll get rid of one weather element, but some others are likely to come along."

For more updates, visit http://www.europeantour.com.