Saturday is a wash at LPGA Tour Championship

All of Saturday's play at the LPGA Tour Championship was canceled when overnight rain left The Houstonian Golf & Country Club unplayable.

The tournament, the final one for the LPGA Tour season, has been shortened to 54 holes. The second round is scheduled to resume at 9:00 a.m. (et) Sunday and if all goes according to plan, the second round will be completed Sunday.

The second-round cut will be made and the final round will be on Monday with the top-70 players and ties. Before the tournament had to be trimmed, the schedule called for a second-round cut, then a third-round cut to low 30 and ties. That was scrapped when the decision was made to make it a 54-hole tournament.

"We considered cutting to 30 and ties," acknowledged Doug Brecht, the LPGA Vice-President of Rules and Competitions. "We've got plenty of time to let 70 and ties come and finish this event. In the best interest of what the LPGA is trying to accomplish with all the factors being considered, we felt like that was the best route and avenue for us to take."

Lorena Ochoa, who hasn't hit a shot since Thursday afternoon, is in front at six-under par.

Reilley Rankin is second at five-under, followed by Taylor Leon, who has yet to tee off in round two, and Sophie Gustafson. That pair is at four-under par and Gustafson has played 11 holes of her second round.

The first problems for the championship came Thursday, when 10 players had to wait until Friday to finish their first rounds after darkness stopped play.

On Friday, there was a long weather delay that pushed back the start of play until 2:00 p.m. Action was once again called for darkness on Friday with half of the field not hitting a single shot in round two.

The goal was to restart play at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, but that became impossible when overnight rain left the course unplayable. Officials waited until 10:30 a.m. to make a decision, but pushed that back until 2:30 p.m.

Shortly after that time, tour officials decided the course was unplayable and there would be no golf on Saturday.

"Instead of getting a little bit better, it's gotten worse," said Brecht.

The decision to shorten the tournament wasn't taken lightly. This is the final event of the season and the Player of the Year race is on the line with Jiyai Shin, who is at two-under 70, slightly ahead of Ochoa.

"We could obviously still try and implement that plan and put it into effect and try to finish 72 holes by the end of the day Monday," said Brecht. "There was some possible hiccups with that plan, and rather than forcing people's hands and probably forcing them to stay on Tuesday to finish, we felt it was in the best interest of this event and for our players and everyone concerned to now shorten this event to 54 holes."

Another problem with extending this tournament to Tuesday was the fact that Thursday is Thanksgiving with many players and tour personnel having travel plans.

"That's part of the equation," admitted Brecht.

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