PGA Tour Suspends Wyndham Championship Second Round Hours After Big Names Withdraw

The Wyndham Championship’s second round was suspended due to Friday’s bad weather and shifted to just before moving day. Sadly, the field had already thinned considerably as multiple golfers decided to forego their spot: Akshay Bhatia was one of them. Isaiah Salinda, Tom Kim, and Aaron Wise also withdrew. Then, there was Erik van Rooyen, who left due to a back injury.

Bad weather made things much worse. For instance, defending champion Aaron Rai was within a shot of the lead (Cameron Young) when the weather halted the second round. But lightning had forced the golfers to leave the course. As the sky darkened, a warning horn was sounded, and the galleries of the crowd also sought shelter from the thunderstorms.

And so, 78 players, which is half the field, had to come back on Saturday morning to finish their second round. But Cameron Young considered himself lucky. “I was fortunate when the horn blew,” he said after completing his second round. “I had already hit on 16 and had hit a really good shot so got to come out to a pretty straight six‑footer, which in a sense made it easier, I think, to just keep going what I had yesterday. As much as a bummer as it is to stop when you’re playing well, the way I was looking at it, I was going to get a perfectly smooth green on an uphill six‑footer to start the day for birdie. I think it was as easy as it could have been to kind of keep some momentum.”

The golfer recorded seven birdies in 15 holes Friday; shot 30 on the front nine; made back-to-back birdie putts on Nos. 14 and 15 before his final shot, and then the bad weather halted the event. Play was first paused at 4:32 p.m. ET, and later in the evening, officials decided to end it for the day. The round will resume on Saturday morning at 7:30 a.m. ET.

But the weather forecast offers little relief to players and fans hoping for smooth play. Greensboro is expected to wake up under a blanket of overcast skies, with temperatures lingering around a mild 75 degrees. The threat of scattered rain showers, though slight, combined with persistent northeast winds blowing at 10 to 15 mph, sets the stage for a challenging test of skill and patience. After Friday’s suspension due to harsh weather, the golfers will have to navigate not only the pressure of a tight FedExCup race but also uncertain course conditions that could shift the leaderboard in unexpected ways.

The Wyndham Championship carries extra pressure this week as it’s the final chance for players to secure a spot in the FedExCup Playoffs, which begin next week.

Weather delays: A growing challenge for the PGA Tour

The Puerto Rico Open was going well in March. It witnessed standout rounds from Chris Gotterup and Kevin Roy. Then, just as things were heating up, rain stepped in to pause play for nearly 45 minutes, causing a delay on what was shaping up to be a thrilling first round at the Grand Reserve Golf Club. Though it was not suspended, it was enough to break players’ rhythm.

And then came the Zurich Classic in April. It faced its own hurdles. Dangerous thunderstorms forced officials to suspend the final round. It resumed at 3:47 p.m. local time after a 92-minute delay, and practice facilities also re-opened for players at 3:15 p.m. But the chaos didn’t stop there. Fans were left scratching their heads when a technical snafu switched the broadcast to PGA Tour Champions coverage mid-event. To top it off, a power outage knocked out TV coverage during the climax of the tournament—hardly the smooth finish anyone expected.

With the regular season behind them, the PGA Tour now heads into playoff mode, and the pressure is higher than ever. Weather delays and technical glitches can’t afford to slow down the race for the FedExCup. What do you think?