The Masters 2024: First round delayed with tee times pushed back due to Augusta storms

The beginning of The Masters tournament has been postponed due to unfavorable weather conditions. The tee times for the first day, which falls on Thursday, have been rescheduled to begin at least an hour later than originally planned.

The initial set of players were supposed to begin playing at 1pm BST (8am local time). However, due to the prediction of severe rainfall and thunderstorms, the game will not commence before 2pm BST (9am local).

Sky Sports Golf will broadcast the full four-day tournament live without any interruptions.

A statement from Augusta National released on Thursday morning stated that they are closely watching the weather.

The start of the first round has been postponed and no set time has been announced yet. The gate opening and tee times will also be delayed until further notice. The earliest possible start time will be at 9 in the morning [2 in the afternoon, British Standard Time].

On Wednesday evening, authorities had already stated their decision to postpone the opening of patron gates before the commencement of the first day's play.

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Previous predictions had indicated that there was a high possibility of rainfall and thunderstorms to occur during Thursday morning. Additionally, it was anticipated that wind gusts could reach up to 45 miles per hour, and there was also a chance for storms to potentially come back later in the day.

On Friday, there will be more strong winds with gusts that could go up to 30mph. However, the weather will be less damp and the sun will come out.

The expected weather for the upcoming weekend at the tournament is just what everyone hoped for. It will be warm and sunny with much less wind compared to the previous two days. If there were any complications that caused delays earlier in the week, this kind of weather will allow the event to resume without any problems.

On Wednesday, the tournament released a weather report which stated that even though the skies will be mostly sunny, there will be strong gusts of wind throughout Friday. This is because there is a dry and stable airflow that has settled into the region. The winds will be blowing in a mostly western to south-western direction at speeds of 7-15 mph and these conditions will persist through the weekend.

The Masters golf tournament has faced a lot of interruptions in the past due to bad weather, with at least one temporary stoppage occurring in the last five years. Additionally, rain has affected over 50% of the 88 total editions of the tournament.

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Since 1983, The Masters has not concluded on a Monday. During that year, Seve Ballesteros obtained a four-shot triumph. This tradition will remain unbroken this week, despite the uncertain weather predicted for the tournament's first day.

The Masters Schedule: Watch On Sky Sports

Full-on coverage of the tournament kicks off during the initial two rounds on Thursday and Friday. Sky Sports Golf will be broadcasting exciting Featured Group action and frequent updates from various parts of the course until 8pm when the global broadcast becomes available. So, don't miss out on the fun!

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You can enjoy plenty of additional excitement over the four days by accessing the red button on Sky Sports Golf, Sky Q, and Sky Glass. This gives you access to bonus feeds that let you track the progress of players across different sections of Augusta's renowned course.

During the weekend, Sky Sports Golf will present a lot of pre-event content and sometimes give live updates from the course before the worldwide transmission commences at 8pm on the third day and 7pm on the last day. If you want to catch the early battles, you can utilize the red button to watch them.

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The Masters competition winner is yet to be determined. You can catch the event live from April 11-14 by tuning in to Sky Sports. The coverage commences on Thursday with Featured Groups, starting at 2pm on Sky Sports Golf. To catch The Masters and other golf tournaments, you can also stream them by subscribing to NOW.

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