50-mph winds! No fans! A 5-putt! Friday at the Shriners in Las Vegas was no ordinary PGA Tour round

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An October day in Las Vegas resembled more of a July day in Scotland, sans the rain, which wouldn’t have mattered much if that day didn’t also happen to be when the second round of the PGA Tour’s Shriners Children’s Open was schedule for TPC Summerlin.

The first sign as to just how out of the ordinary the weather conditions were going to wind up being was when PGA Tour officials announced at 5:30 a.m. local time that play was delayed two hours due. The predicted winds blowing a sustained 30-35 mph with gusts up to 50-60 mph had come true.

Ninety minutes later, the delay was extended two more hours. “We just didn’t feel, given gusts of 50 miles per hour, it was safe for those people to operate at those early hours,” PGA Tour chief referee Stephen Cox explained. “We needed the additional time to assess the damage, and we needed the additional time from a safety perspective to secure what was out there.”

When play finally began at 10:55 a.m. local time, it came with another unusual caveat: While the players would be allowed to brave their way around the course, fans would not. “Out of an abundance of caution for spectator safety” read the release, with local officials saying they would honor general admission and hospitality tickets from Friday on Saturday. It was the first time a round on tour was played with no galleries since the final round of the 2021 Northern Trust at Liberty National was held on a Monday after Tropical Storm Henri hit the New York area.

Eventually, the golfers teed off, but it was a different sort of game that they were playing compared to the usually “fire-at-the-flag, throw-caution-to-the-wind (no pun intended)” style that has made winning scores at the Shriners rest comfortably in the 20-under (or lower) range for years. Players had to think they’re way around the course and recalibrate in their minds what were good shots and scores compared to normal.

“Yeah, it was probably a test of patience,” said Doug Ghim, who shot a seven-under 64 to sit three off the opening-round lead on Thursday then posted a one-under 70 on Friday as part of the second threesome off the 10th tee. “It usually is when it gets that windy. I think the toughest part was trying to figure out when we were going to play. I think I was in the fitness trailer at 5 this morning. You can’t really be caught off guard and expect to be a delay and not be ready.”

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There were other afternoon-morning pairings that saw similar reversals in their scores. Kevin Streelman went 67-76. Jacob Bridgeman went 65-70. Garrick Higgo went 64-74. Lanto Griffin went 67-72.

“I felt like I shot 62 today to be honest, and I only shot two-under,” said Greyson Sigg, whose 69 was only two shots higher than his opening 67 and left him in a tie for 16th

When play ended due to darkness on Friday night, with leader Taylor Pendrith only through six holes and  more than half of the afternoon wave still on the course, the second-round scoring average was 71.630 on the par-71 course compared to 68.779 in the first round.

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The windy conditions made it tricky for players like Joseph Bramlett to work their way around TPC Summerlin on Friday.

Ian Maule

The most sinister moment? It might belong to Joseph Bramlett, a journeyman pro ranked 146th in the FedEx Cup points standings trying to scramble for some kind of PGA Tour status in 2025. The 36-year-old shot an opening 64 on Thursday to put himself three off the lead put posted a 75 on Friday that include a five-putt on the par-4 first hole after hitting his approach shot to 10 feet, 5 inches.

There were, however, some players who bucked the trend. Kurt Kitayama, a UNLV grad who still lives in Vegas and has seen windy conditions here before, posted a bogey-free three-under 68, then got to return to his home for the rest of the afternoon. “I was thinking it was going to play really hard and I had to limit big numbers,” he said of his mindset heading into the round. “But luckily when I did miss, I missed in the right spot and was able to just grind it out.”

Even more impressive was the performance of Pierceson Coody, No. 126 on FedEx Cup points standings entering the week and trying to get inside the top 125 to hold on to hold card for 2025. The 24-year-old backed up an opening-round 72 with a 65 on Friday to jump from T-107 on the leaderboard to T-26. He made nearly 100 feet of putts to finish 3.25 in strokes gained on the greens compared to losing 2.5 strokes the previous day.

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com