Andrea threatens to gate-crash TPC party

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida. – Although Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh are the dominant figures on the 2007 PGA Tour, Tropical Storm Andrea could have a bigger impact on this week’s Players Championship.

The storm’s westward advance across the Atlantic Ocean has led to forecasts for scattered thunderstorms for all four rounds at the refurbished Tournament Players Club Sawgrass.

Traditionally held in late March, the Tour’s flagship event has been put back for the first time to early May to help create fast, firm-running conditions on the mounded, par-72 layout.

Since last year’s tournament, a sub-air drainage system has been installed under every green and the fairways have also been upgraded with a new base of sand to improve drainage.

These measures are likely to be tested to the full if this week’s weather forecast proves accurate.

"Welcome to sunny, dry, warm Florida," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said with a smile during a news conference on Wednesday. "Andrea will be with us for a few more hours at least.

"The good news is we did make the decision to move ahead with the re-infrastructure of the golf course to hopefully put it in the condition where we can deal with more moisture. That concept will now get some testing in the next 48 hours."

Finchem conceded the irony of rain arriving in Florida after a year of relative drought for a later Players Championship date in the calendar.

"It hasn’t rained in a year, it might as well rain this week," he jested. "We never said it doesn’t rain in May, we just said the patterns are different.

"It’s not going to rain as much and, when it rains, you don’t usually get a system. You usually get build-up and maybe a thunderstorm."

Regardless of the forecast, Masters champion Zach Johnson is prepared for a week of fast-running conditions at Sawgrass.

"The greens seem to be a little more firm than the actual speed, but that’s not going to be an issue," he said. "They’ll be fast come tomorrow and especially come Sunday.

"This golf course is all wind and rain-based, in my opinion. I don’t know if it’s going to be any harder or any easier. "

"But if the fairways are going to roll out, it’s going to be that much more difficult."