Blown away

KAPALUA, Maui » Wind and rain squalls terrorized Friday’s start to the PGA Tour season, leaving Kapalua’s Plantation Course black and blue and wet all over.

Then, it was simply over.

The first round of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions ended before it began for six players, including defending champion Steve Stricker. They never teed off when play was suspended for the second and last time at 12:46 p.m. because of "extreme conditions," including a ball getting blown off the second green.

After a long discussion by tour officials, a "committee decision" was made to cancel the round completely. That eased the minds of nearly all 30 players in the wind-blown field, but erased a remarkable round of 3 under par that Webb Simpson put together through the first seven holes.

"It stinks for me," said Simpson, the U.S. Open champ. "I got off to a great start, but that’s the way it goes. I’m sure they made the decision that’s best for all the guys. The good news is, I had a good start and was playing well."

He will try again, with everybody else, at 7:30 this morning. The golfers will play in pairs off the first and 10th tees, then try to squeeze in a second round in the afternoon. The forecast is for much of the same weather, with possibly bigger breezes.

"I can honestly say the forecast isn’t real good," admitted Slugger White, a PGA Tour rules and competition official. "But maybe we’ll get lucky. That’s the hope."

Simpson had a magnificent seven holes in brutal conditions. Players had to anchor themselves on Kapalua’s radical slopes. Carl Pettersson’s ball was blown off the second green and one player complained that the wind and rain were so bad he couldn’t see his ball when he went to putt.

Through all this, Simpson drained two 20-foot putts, birdied three of the first six holes and did not miss a green in regulation for his first seven holes. At 3 under par, he and rookie Jonas Blixt (1 under) were the only golfers in red numbers when officials called it, characterizing the course as unplayable.

Breezes gusted to 45 mph. Rain, often blowing sideways, kept coming and going as dark clouds covered the island of Molokai just across the channel, then were replaced by blue skies. Bubba Watson and Rickie Fowler both spoke of launching great drives — on the range and the course — that only went 215 yards.

"I told my caddie, I really almost don’t even need any numbers today," Fowler said. "It’s more looking at the shot and seeing what the weather is, and just grab a club and pick the flight and hit it. Numbers were kind of irrelevant at times."

NBC and Golf Channel analyst Mark Rolfing, who lives at Kapalua, called it the worst day of golf he had seen in 22 years. Watson called it "goofy golf."

Times have been altered to avoid bad weather in the past, but this is the first time a round has been canceled since the tour started opening its season on Maui in 1999. The last time the tour "declared play null and void" was at the 2005 Players Championship.

Scott Stallings was 7 over after four holes when it was called. "Obviously I was thrilled," he said.

It even began ominously, or at least goofily. With Fowler about to pull the trigger on the season’s first shot, a small child walked behind him singing "It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is snoring."

Fowler did a restart, then set off with Jason Dufner in the first group. Dufner made the season’s first birdie, sinking a 4-footer on the first hole, but double-bogeyed the diabolical second when his 7-foot par putt blew 5 feet by.

He got back under par with birdies at Nos. 5 and 6, but took another double on the next par 3 (No. 8), where his ball imbedded in a bunker.

Fowler bogeyed Nos. 2 and 3 and birdied No. 4. Then he matched Dufner’s double-bogey at the eighth, hitting his tee shot short and into the hazard just before the first warning was issued.

"I’m really glad that didn’t count because after hitting that and hearing the horn blow a minute later as I’m walking off the tee made me a little upset," Fowler said. "I think it’s a smart decision with what they did. Obviously saying that, Webb is probably the only one that’s unhappy, with the start that he was off to. But hopefully we can get some better weather tomorrow."