Hailstorm hits opening day's action

Abu Dhabi: Traditionally, the Pro-Am, which starts the $2 million Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, has seen a few drizzles over the last three editions. But yesterday morning was different.

When the pros left the Emirates Palace Hotel in the morning the capital was dry, though there was a bit of rain forecast for the day.

But shortly after the action started and the morning's two final groups teed-off at 8.50am, a hailstorm lashed the National Course, leaving many scurrying for cover. The heavy downpour lasted more than an hour, with the hailstorm enveloping the course in a white sheet.

But once the downpour stopped, the sun came out and in less an hour the golf clubs were out and the battle for the Falcon Trophy resumed.

"The course held up amazingly and we were able to resume play after a relatively short stoppage," said Peter German, executive tournament director.

"This is largely down to the work of Andrew Whittaker, the course superintendent, and his team - they deserve every word of praise they are receiving. Their efforts this morning are quite rightly the talk of the Championship and the course looks as good as ever."

Whittaker and 60 green keepers revealed they used every trick in the book to get the players back on the course quickly.

"As soon as the players came off the course we undertook an exploratory mission to identify areas of potential issue. It quickly became apparent that the second fairway had taken the brunt of the rainfall and we focused our attentions there," Whittaker said.

"The National's natural drainage qualities have helped us considerably today and after using rubber rollers to push most of the on-course water into puddles, we simply pumped the excess in to the desert areas surrounding the course where it will drain away from the fairways.

"The course has braved the weather admirably and once certain areas were pumped, play resumed."