VASSALBORO – They played cribbage and they played chess on their smartphones. They talked about golf and, finally, after a 4 1/2 -hour rain delay, they played some.
Two rounds of the Match Play Invitational were scheduled Thursday at Natanis Golf Course’s Tomahawk course, but when heavy morning rain suspended the quarterfinal round with two of the four matches still competing, officials elected to push the semifinals to 8 a.m. Friday with the championship round to follow.
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“This is the one thing you can’t control when you have a tournament,” said Joe Alvarez of Penobscot Valley Country Club.
That meant four golfers — Alvarez, Curtis Jordan, Mike O’Brien and Joe Walp — had to wait out the rain to finish their quarterfinal matches.
Play was halted at 10:15 a.m. After it resumed at approximately 2:45 p.m., Jordan defeated Alvarez 1 up and Walp beat O’Brien in 21 holes.
“It was definitely interesting waiting around. We were playing chess on our phones. (O’Brien and Alvarez) played cribbage,” Jordan said. “We were just telling stories and stuff. I’ve never seen anything like that before for a wait.”
In the two quarterfinals completed before the delay, Jack Wyman defeated Jason Gall 4 and 2 and Johnny Hayes IV beat Tobey Buteau, 5 and 4. Jordan (Woodland Club) and Walp (Falmouth Country Club) will meet in Friday’s first semifinal at 8 a.m., with Wyman (Portland Country Club) and Hayes (Prouts Neck Country Club) teeing off 10 minutes later.
When play was suspended, Alvarez, ahead 1 up, was about to try an 8-foot putt on the 17th green to halve the hole. When play resumed, judges allowed him to move his ball to a drier spot 8 feet from the opposite side of the hole.
Alvarez’s putt hit the lip and stayed out, tying the match.
With Tomahawk’s 18th hole unplayable, they moved to the ninth hole at Natanis’ Arrowhead course. Alvarez’s tee shot went out of bounds and after chipping onto the green at 5, he conceded the match to Jordan.
“I thought he was going to make that putt. If conditions were normal, he makes it every time. It’s tough to think about it for four hours,” Jordan said.
O’Brien and Walp made it through 16 holes all square in the morning and after the delay, finished their round by playing holes 8 and 9 at Arrowhead. Still tied after 18 holes, they played Arrowhead 8 and 9 again, only to remain tied. For a third playoff hole, O’Brien and Walp moved to Tomahawk’s first hole, where Walp finally won when an O’Brien putt ran long.
The long delay didn’t bother him, Walp said.
“I really didn’t think about it. We were just talking about other golf stuff. I just hoped it would let up so we could get out and play,” Walp said.
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