Gainey leads Phoenix, shortened by weather

Associated Press

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.

At the frosty Phoenix Open, it was fitting that a guy called “Tommy Two Gloves” had a share of the lead.

Not that Tommy Gainey thinks the extra glove really helps in cold conditions.

“I don’t necessarily think it’s an advantage when it’s real cold, and I’ll tell you why, because when the temperature started dropping, I mean, my hands, even though I had the gloves on, they were still freezing,” Gainey said. “I didn’t have much feel in my hands at that time. Wearing a glove or not, it’s still freezing, and your hands are feeling kind of numb. And that’s the way my hands were feeling, kind of numb.”

Gainey and Mark Wilson reached 11 under Friday before second-round play was suspended because of darkness in the frost-delayed tournament that will finish Monday.

Wilson played 14 holes in the second round, and Gainey finished nine.

Frost delayed play until just after 11 a.m. — 94 minutes after the scheduled start that was already nearly two hours later than normal. Only half the field finished the first round Thursday after a four-hour morning delay.

The delays — costing a total of 7 hours, 24 minutes of playing time — pushed more than half of the second round to Saturday. In announcing the Monday finish, PGA Tour officials said the cut will remain at the top 70 and ties.

“In a perfect world, probably finish Monday, maybe four or five holes, best-case scenario,” said Slugger White, the PGA Tour’s vice president of rules. “So much depends on tomorrow morning and Sunday morning. ... It’s unbelievable how frozen these greens get and they just don’t thaw out.”

On the sunny day, the temperature was 42 when play started, reached 52 and was 48 when play was suspended a little after 6 p.m. If the players started a hole before the suspension, they had the option of finishing it.

Only six players finished the second round and 64 — the entire early wave from the first round — didn’t get on the course Friday.