Players Championship: Storms and lightning suspend tense final round

An enthralling final round of The Players Championship was suspended Sunday due to lightning in the area at the Florida venue.

An enthralling final round of The Players Championship was suspended Sunday due to lightning in the area at the Florida venue. Tee times had been pushed forward in a bid to finish the PGA Tour’s flagship event before incoming storms arrived, yet play was stopped at 1:15 p.m. ET (5:15 p.m. GMT) after rain and thunderclaps began at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach. Fans were “encouraged to exit the premises for their safety,” tournament organizers said in a statement, with PGA Tour Communications adding in a post on X that lightning in the area was the reason for play’s suspension. Violent tornadoes have raked across the Midwest and South of the US as part of a major storm that has left at least 35 dead since Friday, with more than 60 million people under threat for severe storms Sunday from Pennsylvania to Florida as the larger system shifts eastward. The PGA Tour had forecasted storms to reach the Stadium Course between 3 and 5 p.m. and subsequently sent out the first playing groups at 8 a.m ET, just over three-and-a-half hours earlier than last year’s start time, in a bid to avoid a first Monday finish since 2022. World No. 2 Rory McIlroy leads the tournament after completing 11 holes before play was suspended, with American J.J Spaun one shot – and one hole – behind.