Mother Nature is undefeated and still champion. No matter how much people try to control or predict the weather, the natural world always reminds us of who’s in charge.
Take Tuesday’s opening round of the 85th Northern Kentucky Amateur Championship, where precipitation ruled the day at Lassing Pointe Golf Course in Union. Not only did rain reign — Mother Nature played through.
After less than two hours of golf following two delays, tournament officials suspended play around 2 p.m. That made Tuesday a total washout. All scores, some through four holes of golf, were wiped off the books, setting up a fresh start Wednesday morning.
“We were delayed all morning and decided to play just nine holes (instead of 18 on Tuesday),” Russ Gartner, Director of Golf Operations at Lassing Pointe, said after the first delay.
That proved optimistic, entirely in keeping with Gartner’s upbeat personality. It was at odds with what Tuesday’s weather had in store: constant rain, more than an inch. Officials suspended action the first time around 12:30 p.m. after about 90 minutes of play. About 90 minutes later, the day was over with no results.
“Mother Nature had other plans for us,” tournament director Jared Riesenberg said. “After the rain subsided, we decided the golf course was no longer in playable condition to continue. Unfortunately, we had to cancel round one of the Northern Kentucky Amateur. We decided our best course of action for the day was to have a double tee start Wednesday to attempt to at least get nine holes played.”
With the opening round canceled, the Championship Division and Women’s Division play a two-day, 36-hole tournament.
“The Championship Division will still have a cut to the low 30 and ties after Wednesday’s round,” Riesenberg said. “The men’s and women’s Senior Divisions have been reformatted to an 18-hole championship to be played Wednesday.”
Competitors were notified by continual email blast Tuesday morning regarding start times. Golf eventually started in a drizzle around 11 a.m., four hours after the original start time. Three hours after the late start, everybody called it a day.
Two-time champion Bill Williamson, seeking the rarified air of a third crown, was on No. 4 at the final horn.
“I played three and a half holes and birdied two of them, No. 1 and No. 3. My second shot on 4 rolled to within six feet of the cup,” said Williamson, champion in 2016 and 2018. “We were fighting rain all day. Jared made the right call.”
Williamson, a six-time Greater Cincinnati Golf Association player of the year, could have taken another birdie on No. 4. But the 13-time GCGA tournament champ didn’t get off another shot after rising to second on the leaderboard.
“The horn sounded and we headed home,” said Williamson. “It’s a little tough because I started out kind of hot, but I thought this might happen. It would be nice to win this a third time.”
Another player off to a good start Tuesday was former Ryle golfer Jeffrey Lynne. He was in the top 10 when the final horn sounded. Lynne has made a return to the game after leaving competitive golf for nearly 10 years. He attended Northern Kentucky University, but did not play golf. He’s ready to test his skills and is doing so in a big way at Lassing Pointe.
“For me, I’m not too beat up about it,” Lynne, a 2015 Ryle graduate, said of the delays. “I just like being out there.”
When asked if he was ready to orchestrate an electric performance Wednesday, Lynne was in on the joke.
“Of course I’ve heard of ELO,” Lynne said of Electric Light Orchestra, the rock band helmed by co-founder Jeff Lynne. “I do know of him.”
Lynne and the rest of the golfers will be hoping for Mr. Blue Sky on Wednesday at Lassing Pointe. Only time will tell whether Mother Nature will play fair or make them weather another delay at the Northern Kentucky Amateur.