LA QUINTA, January 21, 2012 (AFP) - Strong winds that toppled trees and blew a scoreboard into a lake caused organizers to suspend the third round of the US PGA Tour Humana Challenge Saturday, with play to resume Sunday.
Winds gusting up to 35 miles per hour (56 kph) forced organizers to halt play with most players through more than nine holes. But after a break of more than an hour, officials opted to halt play for the day and return in the morning.
"It's really bad," said Slugger White, the US tour's vice president of rules and competitions.
"They've got a lot of trees down. It's a real mess. ... We knew it was going to be bad, but we thought it would be something we could play with, and then the bottom fell out."
Mark Wilson was in the lead when play was suspended, and was 21-under par for the tournament through 15 holes. Ben Crane was 18-under through 12.
Among the scary moments caused by the wind, a large scoreboard at the Palmer Private course, one of three par-72 tracks in use for the tournament, was blown into a lake near the 10th and 18th holes.
Australian great Greg Norman and former US President Bill Clinton -- playing as part of the amateur field -- had just teed off on the 10th hole when play was halted.
Clinton and the rest of the amateurs will not complete the event. When play resumes on Sunday it will be for professionals only, and White said organizers hoped they would complete all four rounds by Sunday evening.
"I don't know how they could get it done tomorrow, but more power to them if they do," said Wilson, who was playing the La Quinta Country Club course where several trees were blown down.
The severe weather was a sharp contrast from the ideal conditions of the first two days.
"It's amazing how it happened so quickly, but we've seen it before," Wilson said. "I think they made the right call. You don't want to see anybody get hurt."