The Malaysian Insider :: Sports
The Malaysian Insider :: Sports |
| The Barclays reduced to 54 holes due to Hurricane Irene Posted: 26 Aug 2011 10:50 AM PDT  This NASA satellite image, released to Reuters August 25, 2011, shows Hurricane Irene (centre left) moving through the Bahamas on August 25, 2011, at 10.02am EDT. Hurricane Irene bore down on North Carolina on Friday, tens of thousands of people evacuated, and East Coast cities including New York braced for a weekend hit from the powerful storm. — Reuters pic The Barclays, the first of four lucrative season-ending events on the US circuit, will now conclude at the end of today's third round at Plainfield Country Club. Hurricane-fuelled storms are expected to hit the area late today and further saturate a course that is already soggy from more than a foot of rain last week and another drenching on Thursday. "We weighed all the options available to us, and under normal circumstances, we would obviously prefer to complete 72 holes," PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said in a statement. "But these aren't normal circumstances. We realise that 'waiting it out' until Hurricane Irene passes and trying to play golf on Monday or Tuesday would only add unnecessary strain to those who will be trying to help the community recover from whatever potential damage this storm causes. "The safety of the community, our fans, players, sponsor guests, television partners and staff is of the utmost importance." The Barclays is the first event on the PGA Tour to be reduced to 54 holes since the 2009 Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. — Reuters |
| Posted: 26 Aug 2011 07:56 AM PDT  Mercedes's Michael Schumacher marks his three decades in Formula One with his golden helmet. — Reuters pic Seven times world champion Schumacher made the most of the changeable conditions in the morning session, setting a time of one minute 54.355 seconds in his Mercedes on a dry track before the rain fell. Webber, who was on pole at Spa last year and celebrates his 35th birthday tomorrow, then set the day's fastest lap of 1:50.321 in another rain-hit session after lunch, with Schumacher fading back to 11th. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and the McLaren pairing of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton followed the Australian, with Red Bull's champion and runaway leader Sebastian Vettel back on 10th place. With eight races left, Vettel has an 85-point lead over Webber and is 88 ahead of Hamilton. Schumacher, wearing a golden helmet to mark the 20th anniversary of his grand prix debut at the circuit on August 25, 1991, and teammate Nico Rosberg were the only ones to lap in the dry in the morning. A heavy shower hit the circuit in the Ardennes forests with only 10 minutes gone, and drivers completed the session on wet specification tyres with little action for much of it. Further showers punctuated the afternoon. Button, winner of the last race in Hungary before the summer break, was third fastest in 2:02.740 behind the Mercedes duo in the morning, with Vettel fourth. Lewis Hamilton, last year's race winner at Spa but recovering from a cold on his return, was behind Button in both sessions. Brazilian Bruno Senna made his Renault debut as a replacement for ousted Nick Heidfeld but blotted his copybook by spinning into the tyre wall with just over half an hour to go. Senna ended the first session in 23rd place, still only one behind Russian teammate Vitaly Petrov. The Brazilian improved to 17th in the afternoon while Petrov was caught out by the rain and ended up last on the timesheets. The first session was halted for nine minutes when British rookie Paul di Resta followed Senna into the barriers with 16 minutes remaining and the rescue crane still busy removing Senna's damaged Renault. Indian Karun Chandhok took the place of Finland's Heikki Kovalainen at Team Lotus for the first session. — Reuters |
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