NORTH BERWICK, Scotland — They call it the haar, and while it is normally charming, it has upended the weekend of the Genesis Scottish Open, leading to a brutally long day for players who made the cut. And a brutally long day to follow.
The haar, here in Scotland, is a cool, dense fog blown in from the sea by wind out of the east. We’ve seen near-perfect weather the last few days at Renaissance Club, but that warm air condenses over the cool North Sea and comes back in the form of misty conditions. Every player in the field had their normal schedule thrown off by it Saturday.
The third round of the Scottish Open kicked off as scheduled, though J.J. Spaun, in one of the first groups out, called the visibility “borderline.” On occasion this happens across the PGA Tour schedule, but the hazy conditions always burn off as the day passes. Not here. Instead, the tournament director explained what leads to a fog delay:
When players cannot reasonably make out fairway bunkers, penalty areas or treelines from the tee box, or if they cannot see the pin or greenside bunkers for approach shots. After about 90 minutes of play Saturday morning, that became the case, leading to a 2.5-hour delay.
Players who had teed off, like Spaun, were instructed to stay warm. He dried out some of his clothes, which had gotten a bit wet. Plenty of players and caddies huddled in the driving range cafe, waiting for a signal to start practicing again. But fog delays are far less predictable. There is no start and end to the fog like there is to a thunderstorm. It lingers until it’s too much. It hangs around until visibility is “fine.” Managing it is quite literally filled with grey area.
“Yeah, I showed up, and I was — I wouldn’t say — pleasantly delayed,” Johnny Keefer said. “But it was nice to kind of take my time and be able to eat twice before going off and teeing off.”
The leaders, who planed to tee off around 3:30 p.m., were now set to start their rounds after 6 p.m. — by far the latest start time of any round in years.
“It feels like going back to the golf club after dinner, basically,” Rory McIlroy told the SkySports broadcast.
But July in Scotland offers daylight forever, it seems. Starting just after 1 p.m., the Scottish Open was the Scottish Open. Even if everything was grey, plenty of fans were out and wearing shorts, as the locals often force themselves to do in the summer, no matter the weather. The fan village was packed, the beers were flowing, and plenty of pros got their 18 holes in.
But around 7 p.m. the parts of the golf course nearest the coast started to lose visibility once again. DP World Tour rules officials monitored the situation with every passing minute. At 7:55 p.m., after McIlroy and the final groups had made it toward the end of their front nines, the horn blew again, clearing players off the course. The decision came with the classic warning that makes no one happy: Updates to follow. Thirty minutes later, play was suspended for the rest of the day.
As a result, plenty of golf remains for Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening, too. Michael Thorbjornsen will go to sleep riding a two-birdie streak and holding a share of the lead, with 23 holes to play. Matthew Fitzpatrick is tied with him at 11 under, but will have 28 holes to play on his Sunday. They’ll restart at 7 a.m. with 24 players within four shots of their lead, setting up Sunday to be a ripper of a golf day.
So long as the haar stays away.
