The Barclays, the first of four tour events that make up the PGA Tour’s championship playoffs, gets under way today through Sunday, Hurricane permitting, at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, N.J.
This week’s tour event has a local story line associated with it. Topeka resident and former University of Kansas golfer Gary Woodland is in the field as one of the top 125 players in the PGA FedEx Cup standings. Woodland finished in a 12th-place tie at the recent PGA Championship in Atlanta.
The opening two rounds of The Barclays are expected to be played as scheduled, today and Friday, but there is concern about the weekend weather because of approaching Hurricane Irene, which weather forecasters expect to parallel most of the East Coast on Saturday and Sunday.
Tournament organizers are considering playing 36 holes on Saturday if necessary it it appears that the hurricane will arrive in the N.J. area on late Saturday or Sunday.