After heavy rain, Cognizant Classic will be first Monday finish on PGA Tour in 14 months

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Welcome to Palm Beach County, my friends from Cognizant.

Now you know how the folks from Honda felt.

Most years, golfers get through 72 holes of this PGA Tour event with wind as the only weather challenge. After all, this is the “dry season.”

Most years.

Those who sloshed through the floods and avoided the water moccasins when nearly 8 inches of rain fell during the 2015 tournament will argue that. Or those caught in the deluge two years ago when the leaders were on the 72nd hole might object.

That 2015 storm forced a Monday finish. That was the last time … before Sunday. About 2 ½ inches fell Sunday at PGA National, leading to a 3 ½-hour delay, pushing the final round of the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches into Monday. Play will resume at 8 a.m. ET, with Eric van Rooyen the leader in the clubhouse at 14 under after shooting a 63 Sunday. Austin Eckroat is 15 under with 11 holes to play.

Shane Lowery, the 54-hole leader, played five holes Sunday. He dropped a shot and sits at 12 under.

“Rain delays are tough, especially when you’re playing well,” said Keith Mitchell, who shot a 65 Sunday to finish at 12-under. “You want to keep the train rolling. Sometimes it’s good if you had a bad start and you get to kind of reset.

“I wish there was a secret sauce to them, but you’ve just got to kind of manage.”

Fans started seeking cover just before play was suspended at 12:50 p.m. Overhangs, grandstands, restaurants, the pro shop, hospitality suites like the Champagne Lounge behind the 10th tee box were popular hangouts.

For some, the storm was good for business. The pro shop sold out of umbrellas. Guessing alcohol sales were brisk, too, in the suites and tents where people sought shelter.

Some fans hung around for golf to resume

Noreen Maloney of Boston is vacationing in Fort Lauderdale. A native of Ireland, she came to see Lowry.

“It’s been a long time since he won,” she said. The 2019 British Open to be exact, at least on the PGA Tour.

But long before her fellow countryman hit his first shot, she was driven off the course. Maloney headed to the covered grandstand behind the 17th green when the rain started and waited out the long delay.

“I seen the way the clouds were turning there, I said ‘I better get over this side,’” she said. “You’re going to walk out there you’re going to get absolutely soaked.”

Aaron Schwartz and his wife debated on making the drive from Plantation, Florida. They weren’t sure they made the right decision when they arrived to find a “deluge of people” pouring out of PGA National.

A devoted golfer, Schwartz checked his app, anticipated the weather would clear and waited it out at Birdie’s Diner, not wanting to miss a “historic” inaugural Cognizant Classic.

By 3 p.m. ET, golfers were back on the range and the course was being evaluated. About 30 minutes later, fans were emerging from the pro shop and restaurants to line up at the gate. By 4:20, the horn sounded and play resumed.

Van Rooyen was one of 40 golfers who finished and do not have to return Monday unless there is a playoff, although he might make the short drive to PGA National.

The South African is one of a several golfers in the field who lives locally. He thought about heading home when play was suspended but worried about getting a little too comfortable.

“If I get home, I’m going to sit on my couch and grab a beer probably,” he said. “Good thing I stayed.”

Van Rooyen isn’t sure what he is doing Monday.

“I’ve got no expectations,” he said. “If I’m within two and those boys are walking up to 15th tee box (the start of the Bear Trap), I’ll be here.”