Foul weather could force Monday finish for Presidents Cup

Ohio: Two long rain delays have already forced a backlog of matches at the Presidents Cup on Saturday and the forecast for more showers on the weekend could send the event into a Monday finish, tournament director Steve Carman said.

After a two and a half hour delay, only two of Friday`s six foursomes matches were completed, with the remaining four contests held over to be finished early on Saturday. Five four-ball matches and five foursomes are also scheduled for later on Saturday with the 12 singles matches to follow on Sunday. With more foul weather expected, the prospect of the tournament being decided on Monday was now looming large. "Monday is a consideration," Carman said. "And I believe the (tournament rules) document tells that you if we don`t finish by sunset on Monday, then the team with the most points at that point would be declared the winner." Carman said officials also had the option of moving Sunday`s singles matches to an earlier start if rain was threatening to force an extra day. "Tomorrow, after we get the more current (weather) models, maybe we`ll have a more accurate picture of what the time frame is going to be and based on that information," he said. "We would make the decision whether we were going to try and play early or try and beat the weather or go with the original plan." Play did not commence until after lunchtime on Friday even though there was no rain in the morning, but Carman defended the decision to start later. "There was no discussion today about playing earlier," he said. "We lost some pretty good weather in the morning, however, the forecast was for scattered showers. There was a chance that it wouldn`t materialize and we obviously wanted the golf to be live on television. "Going forward, we`ll make our best effort to try and finish (on Sunday) as we`ve done with this plan."