“The first round of the Wyndham Championship is postponed to Friday.” The announcement would surely have come as an upset to many golfers in the field at Sedgefield Country Club. But it would have been nothing short of a nightmare for Jay Monahan. However, if you think this is something new for the commissioner of the men’s circuit, then you’re sorely wrong. The PGA Tour had suffered similar miseries, leading to such delays and headaches throughout the season.

A new guest joined the golfers in the field as they were playing the opening round at the 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. The group of Paul Barjon/Sam Stevens and Jhonattan Vegas/Bronson Burgoon was welcomed by an alligator, per the PGA Tour, as they prepared themselves for the tee shot at the par-3, 17th hole. The reptile was spotted crossing roughly 3 feet in front of the tee box, causing an alligator delay, no less!

This, consequently, caused the group to be delayed by a total of seven minutes. The athletes reached the tee at 11:38 a.m. local time but could only drive their balls at 11:45 a.m. Barjon, who finished the hole for a birdie later on, said, “The gator was a bit unusual. It wasn’t really getting close to anyone but moved very slowly and we had to probably wait five minutes or a bit more. It was pretty cool.”

While this particular gator had four legs, another similar reptile with three legs known as Tripod, had once dominated social media for nearly two decades. The gator was allegedly spotted first back in 2004 and continued to be seen throughout the years at TPC Louisiana. Even so, the delays that they brought about were low as opposed to the lengthy rain-induced ones.

Back at the 2024 Cognizant Classic, the final round of the event on Sunday was suspended for a total of 3 hours and 28 minutes. The reason? Well, it was all thanks to dangerous weather in the Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Consequently, the play was shifted to the next day, witnessing Austin clinch his first PGA Tour victory in a first Monday finish since 2015. It seems truly unfortunate. However, the PGA Tour isn’t the only circuit that has experienced such miseries. Enter the Epson Tour!

Epson Tour also faced similar misery to Jay Monahan’s PGA Tour

St. George in Utah witnessed a huge downpour of rain for the first time in months. However, be it bad luck, that was the time when the 2024 Copper Rock Championship of the Epson Tour was taking place. “When it rained, it poured,” recounts Brynn Walker, a professional golfer of the circuit, “The rain wasn’t falling, it was running side to side as the wind pushed it along. It pushed my umbrella too.”

The misery didn’t end there. A shot using the 7-iron by the golfer as the ball found itself amid red clay saw the club being bent out of shape. ” A golf ball wasn’t the only thing I made contact with on that shot out of the clay,” divulged the golfer while recollecting the tingling sensation and pain in her arms after the impact of the club with the ball. Later on, the results of the MRI Arthrogram came back inconclusive, leading to the only course of action being physiotherapy and a “see how it feels approach.”

Jay Monahan, meanwhile, can only wait and watch as the natural hurdles take care of themselves to allow the PGA Tour event a smooth run. Anyhow, with the kind of luck that the commissioner has sported throughout the season, finishing the round on Sunday is anything but possible.