Poor Weather Delays Turkish Airlines Open


Thunder and lightning accompanied by heavy rains prevented the opening round of the Turkish Airlines Open from being completed. The European Tour event began Thursday at Montgomerie Maxx Royal in Antalya, Turkey, which suffered flooding by the storm.

Because of the suspension of play, the first round will resume Friday morning ahead of the start of the second round. "There was first a one-hour delay and that was extended to two hours and then when it was safe to inspect the course a number of the greens had flooded," tournament director Miguel Vidadoar said.

"That forced us into a further hour's delay. However, with an earlier start tomorrow (Friday) I'm confident we can get back to normal and proceed with all four rounds."

The forecast for the next few days is much better.

"Showers and thunderstorms will gradually diminish and clouds will decrease later (Thusday) afternoon. Friday through Sunday look sunny and warm across the Belek area," said the European Tour's resident meteorologist Mike McClellan.

Two players - Ricardo Gonzalez and and Thorbjorn Olesen - completed Thursday's low rounds, 6-under 66s.

Tiger Woods was 1-under through 10 holes. His playing partners in the tournament's marquee pairing, Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose, were 4-under and 1-under, respectively. Stenson leads the points' standings in the Race to Dubai over Rose by nearly 150 points.

Woods is playing with a cold he caught from his daughter. "My [six-year-old] daughter Sam was sick and it's just the way it goes," he told Reuters.

"Kids get sick, you get sick and you've just got to deal with it. I've done it for years now so it's no big deal. I feel good though. Energy-wise I feel great, I just don't sound the same."

For updated scoring, visit http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2013/tournamentid=2013088/leaderboard/index.html.