Els on #1.....
Els on #1.....
Els hits Janzen as weather halts play
Only 44 minutes' play was possible on the second day of golf's richest event, the ?4.5million Players Championship, at Sawgrass on Friday.
But that was long enough for world number three Ernie Els to hit playing partner Lee Janzen.
Els, one under par overnight and seven shots behind leader Steve Jones, had struck a wild drive off the opening tee 80 yards right of where he was aiming.
The ball finished on pine needles and because a bush was in the way the South African could not go for the green and decided to play back onto the fairway. Janzen, however, was there preparing for his next shot and did not see the ball coming.
"I thought it was going to hit him on the head," said Els' caddie Ricci Roberts.
"I shouted 'Fore', but there wasn't time for him to get out of the way. Thankfully, though, the ball hit the ground just in front of him and caught him on the leg."
Janzen was okay to continue and hit his approach to the edge of the green.
But Els' 118-yard pitch flew horribly right again and when the siren to suspend play sounded he had already chipped to 12 feet and needed to hole that to avoid a double bogey six.
The 2002 Open champion then spent most of the day waiting to see if he could return to the green, but at 3.30pm there was still no resumption.
The forecast for the weekend is even worse, raising the possibility of the sport's unofficial fifth major going into Monday. Or even further.