Storms wreaks havoc on first round of Nationwide Tour event in Valdosta

VALDOSTA – The South Georgia Classic started on Thursday but there wasn’t a lot of golf being played. Instead, golf was replaced with a lot of standing around and waiting.

Storms in the Valdosta area halted first round action at Kinderlou Forest for over eight hours throughout the day. Golfers with early morning tee times waited around the clubhouse well into the evening to resume their rounds, while the golfers in the afternoon wave never started their rounds.

When play officially ended due to darkness with half the field yet to tee off, Nicholas Thompson was the leader at 5-under par through 11 holes.

Headliner John Smoltz, the former Atlanta Braves pitcher, was 1-under on the front nine when the first storm hit, then came back out and ran off a series of bogeys as his shortened round ended at 4-over.

Albany’s Josh Broadaway, meanwhile, was in the late group scheduled to tee off Thursday and never even made it onto the course.

Kyle Thompson, Jonas Blixt, Mathew Goggin and Gary Christian are all one shot back at 4-under.

Nine players are currently 3-under.

The furthest groups along have completed 16 holes.

Nicholas Thompson took the lead late in the evening. He parred his first four holes then birdied Nos. 5, 6 and 9 to finish with a 33 on the front. He birdied the first two holes of the back nine to move to 5-under and into first place alone.

“It’s tough with all the starting and stopping, but you can’t let that keep you from trying your hardest to put up a good number,” Thompson said. “I’m rolling the rock well right now and I just want to keep my momentum going.”

The first round had two long suspensions.

Only four groups managed to tee off before the first wave of severe weather hit South Georgia. After a nearly five hour delay, golfers were scheduled to restart at 12:30 p.m. That didn’t happen because a storm cell popped up and pushed the start time back.

It would be a theme.

Play resumed at 1 p.m. before the weather horn blew again at 3:30 p.m. when another pop-up storm rolled through. Players were told to be ready to go again at 4:45 p.m., but more lingering storms and lightning in the area brought them back to the clubhouse at 4:40 p.m.

A lot of walking, a lot of waiting, not much golfing. What added to the frustration was the forecast called for clearing skies in the afternoon. Turned out to be wishful thinking.

Play started up for a final time for the morning golfers at 6:45 p.m. They got a few holes in before darkness fell on the course just after 8 p.m.

The first round resumes again today at 7:50 a.m. with the Thursday morning golfers restarting and finishing their first rounds.

The Thursday afternoon wave is set to tee off its first round at 8:50 a.m.