Hurricane Irene threatens to throw The Barclays into chaos

Little known Harrison Frazer shoots an almost unnoticed 64 as all attention falls on the impending arrival of Hurricane Irene.

By Paul Mahoney

Earthquake Wednesday, hurricane coming Saturday, play suspended by thunderstorm Thursday morning. Locusts due Tuesday?

With Hurricane Irene forecast to hit New Jersey on Saturday night, governor Chris Christie announced a state of emergency and an evacuation of the coast. Meanwhile, The Barclays tournament director Slugger White will make an announcement at High Noon Friday as to how, or if, the championship can be completed in 72 holes. He said there is a contingency plan for 54 holes but he ruled out playing 36 holes on Saturday because there is not enough daylight. "If we get five or seven inches of rain here, we probably dead in the water," White said. The forecast on Thursday morning was for seven to 12 inches.

With winds expected to exceed 80mph, White said some of the infrastructure on the course would be dismantled on Saturday for safety reasons. "We are going to start pulling the mesh off a lot of towers so the wind will get through them," he said. "We will probably look at taking scoreboards down; we don't want those projectiles out there. Years ago at the Honda Classic we had stuff that was blowing around and it was very dangerous. We are not going to take that chance, I guarantee you."

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem has the overriding decision whether the tournament can stagger over to a Tuesday finish but White said that scenario would only play out if half the field completed their third round on Monday. White would not speculate on another scenario that, if the Hurricane hits and the course becomes flooded, the championship could be cancelled. "I don't want to paint myself into a corner right now," White said. "There are a lot of scenarios. By noon tomorrow (Friday) we'll know pretty much what Saturday and especially what Sunday is going to bring us," he said. "They haven't had an earthquake in 100 years or a hurricane in 90 years. And they are having both in the same week. Welcome to New Jersey," he said.

The first round of The Barclays barely got started before the horn sounded and players and spectators dashed for shelter from the torrential rain that lashed Plainfield Country Club. When play resumed after a deluge and a delay of four hours, 16 minutes, 40-year-old Harrison Frazer emerged from the mud as the leader in the clubhouse of those that completed their first round. He shot a bogey-free 64 to be seven under par. Matt Kuchar is seven under par though 16 holes and William McGirt is seven under par through 11 holes after playing the front nine in just 30 strokes. They are one shot clear of Vijay Singh, Jonathan Byrd and Chris Stroud, who has six holes left to complete. FedExCup points leader Nick Watney is among the group on four under par.

Frazer, who turned 40 in July, was the classic tour journeyman pro, plagued by injuries and thoughts of quitting after playing in 354 tournaments without a victory. All that changed when he won his 355th event at the considerably less lucrative FedEx St Jude Classic earlier his year. Frazer said the vibe from the players is they know as much as anyone else about what might happen with Hurricane Irene. "I'm from Texas so I know wind," he said. "We are sensitive to what people on the East Coast are going to go through. A lot of the guys are from Florida and North and South Carolina. They have homes they are worried about. We are all concerned about it but it's not in our power to do anything about it or to worry about it. If they tell us to play golf, we go play golf. If they tell us we are going to speed up and play 36 holes on Saturday and go home, then we'll deal with it."

As everyone in New Jersey continued to monitor the weather updates, Sergio Garcia (three under par) summed up the mood at Plainfield. "We don't know if we are going to finish Saturday or Tuesday or Friday next week."