Afternoon wave relieved to be spared the brunt of Hurricane Earl

NORTON, Mass. -- Geoff Ogilvy expected the worse. So did Steve Marino. They had seen Friday's first-round pairings of the Deutsche Bank Championship. They had checked the weather forecast. And they came to the same conclusion.

The players teeing off in the morning would have great scoring conditions. And those teeing off in the afternoon at TPC Boston would get hammered, specifically by Hurricane Earl, which was expected to hit the area in the early afternoon..

And since Ogilvy and Marino were among those players in the afternoon draw, they were prepared to take their lumps.

"It had the potential," Ogilvy said, "to be the most lopsided draw in history, didn't it?"

But miracle of miracles, the afternoon guys were spared the brunt of Hurricane Earl.

Outside of an 80-minute delay due to lightning starting at 12:35 p.m. ET, the bad weather held off long enough to not only allow the afternoon group to complete the first round in its entirety, but to give them the relatively same low-scoring conditions that the morning wave experienced.

Forty-six players in the morning shot par or better. Forty players in the afternoon shot par or better, with Ogilvy leading the way with a 7-under 64. That put him in a group just one stroke off the pace set by first-rounder leaders Jason Day and Zach Johnson, who were paired together in the morning and shot 63s.

Ogilvy said he received the tee times on Tuesday, took a look at weather.com and saw Hurricane Earl's projected path barreling through as early as Friday afternoon or perhaps Saturday morning.

"I thought, well, late-early is going to be horrible," Ogilvy said, "but it didn't turn out that bad. I'm sure it was easier this morning, but there were quite a lot of good scores this afternoon, too."

The scoring average for the afternoon wave was 68.76. For the morning, it was 67.40. More than a one-stroke difference, but certainly reasonable given the looming possibilities.

"It wasn't playing too tough this afternoon," Marino said after shooting a 6-under 65.

Surprised?, he was asked.

"I was, especially after that first delay," he replied. "I thought the wind was going to pick up and it was going to be an unfair tournament for the guys that had the bad wave.

"I can't believe we finished -- and I can't believe the weather held off."

The afternoon players had to deal with showers, but since lift, clean and place rules were in effect, it gave them the necessary relief to keep firing at pins.

The key was that the wind never become strong enough to make a difference.

"Obviously it was still decent conditions considering," said Luke Donald, who joined Marino and three morning-wave players at 6 under. "There was some showers out there but the wind died down, and with preferred lies and the greens being soft, I think scoring conditions are still good.

"You see even people this afternoon posting some good numbers. Obviously this morning was probably a little bit more ideal, no wind, sunny and drier, but certainly wasn't playing too difficult out there this afternoon."

Marino said he noticed the breeze picking up in the last few holes, but that didn't prevent him from making eagle at the par-5 18th to end the day on a high note.

He credited the course set-up -- some tees move up, favorable pin positions, as well as the ball-in-hand decision -- for producing equitable conditions for the field.

"They did a great job of setting up the course," Marino said. "Very defensive in their set-up in case the worst happened. It was the smart thing to do."

Consequently, for those players who didn't produce a low number on Friday, they can all but kiss their chances goodbye of winning this week. Thirteen players, including Tiger Woods, failed to post at least even par in the 99-player field.

"Shooting a low number today was key," Marino said. "I think you're going to see the winner of this tournament come from 5- or 6-under on up from today."