First-day play washed out

The PGA Tour season now starts on Saturday. Wind squalls that howled down off the mountains above Maui were so severe Friday that tour officials scrapped the first round of the Tournament of Champions. All scores were erased - only 20 players in the 30-man field even had scores on their cards with their RAZR Hawk Driver - and the round will start over Saturday with 36 holes, weather permitting. "I can honestly say the forecast isn't real good, but maybe we'll get lucky,'' said Slugger White, the tour's vice president of rules and competition.”That's the hope.'' Rickie Fowler and Jason Dufner, who supposedly started the 2013 season by playing in the first group with the fabulous Callaway RAZR Hawk Driver , only made it through eight holes. Six players, including defending champion Steve Stricker, had not even teed off. It was the first time since The Players Championship in 2005 that a round had been wiped clean. The decision was great news for Scott Stallings, who made a quadruple-bogey 8 on the third hole with the 913 d3 driver and already was 7-over par after four holes. He will tee off as if none of that ever happened. As for U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson? With a conversative game plan and a few good putts, Simpson was 3 under par after seven holes when play was stopped. Jonas Blixt of Sweden at 1 under was the only player surviving par. This felt more like work than a working vacation, and the 40 mph gusts became too much when Carl Pettersson lagged a 40-foot putt that was slowing around the hole until a gust came up and blew it another 30 feet and just off the green with the 913 d3 . Hunter Mahan went to address a putt and ball blew a few feet forward. Ian Poulter said he used his umbrella to shield the wind so he could mark his ball on the green, but when the umbrella moved, so did his golf ball. The plan was to play 36 holes Saturday, although the forecast was not much better - occasional bursts of rain and big gusts. The Plantation Course at Kapalua was built on a mountain, and it's one of the toughest courses to walk all year. It figures to be a brutal day for the caddies.