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In Valdosta, Georgia, hope was supposed to rise with the final round of Q-School. For golfers like James Nicholas, it was one last chance to fight through the pressure and edge closer to a PGA Tour dream. Nicholas pushed hard through the opening holes, climbing into a position that could have changed the course of his career. But golf can often be painfully unpredictable. 

While Nicholas had already gained his momentum in the stroke play, the event was forced to stop as a sudden heavy downpour began. When play was halted, some groups were nearly done. But others had barely made it halfway. Everyone waited, hoping the weather would clear. But soon, the players received the news no competitor would want to hear. The entire final round was canceled. 

Under PGA Tour bylaws, all scores from Round 4 were wiped clean. This, in turn, reset the leaderboard back to where it stood after 54 holes. And James Nicholas was brutally pushed out of contention in an instant, and took to Instagram and shared “what the PGA Tour is doing by going forward.”

He then narrated how the day turned out and then shared how the PGA Tour has reached out to him and has shared a few updates.

The American then reflected on what the PGA has shared, “The way that the bylaws state is that on the final round of a tournament, regular season, or Q School, if the rules officials and meteorologists come together and they know for a fact based on time par, which is the expected time you’re supposed to play the round, that the final group will not finish, then they do not allow anybody to start or resume or remain in play. Not remain in play. Resume or restart. So we went out and played. I played 13 holes. The leaders were on hole 8. We got thunder coming in; there was a system passing, so we’re waiting inside.”

“The Tour reached out, actually, after they saw the Instagram post, and I spoke to a few people, and it looks like they’re open to changing this policy. I know the LPGA Tour and the DP World Tour for Q-School have this policy where you try to play four rounds in five days. That means if one of the days is bad weather, you can push another day. Now, there might be a scenario going forward where there are two bad days, and you have to play three rounds, but at least give us a buffer day for something like this to happen,” he added.

The disheartened golfer also said, “Luckily, I was affected a little less than others. I know I would have been at finals this week, right now playing for a PGA Tour card, but I do have a Korn Ferry Tour card. Other guys were screwed out of a spot at a chance at a Korn Ferry Tour card and a PGA Tour card, and I’m left with no status.”

Hoping for betterment, he stated, “So the rules need to be amended, but that’s exactly why we got canceled and what might come from it. So we’ll see.”

This was the second consecutive time for the Q-School second-stage tournament to be forced to a stop by rain. Moreover, the LPGA, too, had to tackle a similar scenario.

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How the final round of LPGA Q-School too faced the wrath of nature

Unfortunately for the LPGA Tour as well, the final round of the Q-Series has been affected by significant rain disruptions over the last couple of years. For example, this year’s Q-Series kicked off at the end of September at the Indian Wells Golf and Country Club. Apart from that, the subsequent events have also been held in Daytona Beach and at the Denton Country Club. 

But come December 4, when the final round kicked off, the fans and the anticipating golfers were pretty much disappointed. As per the official X handle of the LPGA Media, it was reported that the first round of the final qualifiers was disrupted due to heavy downpour.

As the course degraded significantly, it was naturally difficult to start the tournament on time. “Due to heavy rain and course conditions, Round 1 of LPGA Q-Series Final Qualifying is further delayed until 10:00 am local time. We will provide more information as it becomes available,” read the statement from LPGA Media.

And this was not the first time that the qualifiers were disrupted due to rain. Last year, too, things were the same. Now, coming to this year’s stoppage, things started to get dark as early as 7 am. As the authorities decided to delay the start by two hours, the rain was still steady at 9:30 am. Thus, with the wrath of nature wreaking havoc, golf fans will pray to the rain gods to stay away next time.