WEST OF IRELAND CHAMPIONSHIP: Just as the forecast predicted, high winds caused havoc and prevented play on the first day of the West of Ireland Amateur Championship at Rosses Point in Sligo.
Following a series of morning inspections the GUI championship committee postponed play for the entire day as balls were moving on the greens and the course was deemed unplayable amid 50kph winds at the venue.
The GUI confirmed today's timesheet for the first "major" of the domestic season will stand for tomorrow with play due to get underway from 7.15am. Competitors will still negotiate two rounds of strokeplay qualifying with the leading 64 progressing to the matchplay.
As today's action was lost to the elements it also means the championship will run over for one extra day and conclude on Wednesday. This year's field was already restricted to just 120 players, due to the lack of daylight given the early Easter.
Irish Close champion Shane Lowry is favourite for the title but will face stiff competition from fellow Irish internationals such as the defending champion Joe Lyons, Cian Curley, Connor Doran, Simon Ward, Paul Cutler and Niall Kearney.
The handicap cut-off for entry fell at 0.5 in the Radisson SAS Sligo sponsored event.
