Golf de Batalha

Hurricane Nadine has become a tropical storm but still managed to cause the cancellation of the Azores Ladies Open Pro-Am at Golf de Batalha, in San Miguel.

Despite heavy rain, the golf course was draining very well but it was the strong winds exceeding 50 to 60 km an hour that brought a halt to the pro-am day. Other islands in the Azores experienced event stronger winds.

The organisers of the tournament and the LET Access Series agreed to cancel the pro-am due to the wind, which would endanger the safety of the professionals as well as amateurs guests. The strength of some gusts broke a flagstick in two and brought down trees.

The Azores Ladies Open is scheduled to start at 9am on Friday morning but an assessment will be carried out again tomorrow.

"We will see how the weather is in the morning and a decision will be made if play can start as scheduled at 9am” said Di Barnard, director of the LETAS event.

It is still difficult to predict whether it will be possible to complete 54 holes of the tournament but indications are that the weather will improve during the next few days.