Rule 5.3a (Starting and Prompt Pace of Play) of Golf: It requires players to be ready to play at their assigned time and location. Failure to be at the teeing ground or the specific spot of suspension by the restart time results in disqualification. While a five-minute ‘grace period’ exists where a player arriving late may only receive a two-stroke penalty, any arrival after the five-minute mark results in mandatory disqualification.
Russell Henley almost lost his chance to play the 2026 PLAYERS Championship on Thursday due to this ruling. He thought the weather suspension at TPC Sawgrass on Thursday would last more than 21 minutes, but it didn’t.
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“I didn’t stay in place,” Henley told the media. “I was beside the clubhouse; we ran in because I thought it was going to be like a tornado. It was raining really, really hard. When I went inside, I hit the lunch table, and Ben Griffin said, “You have a restart in four minutes.’”
Henley had run off the green on the 2nd and into the clubhouse for lunch. When Ben Griffin yelled that the play was starting, Henley had to drop his fork and sprint to reach his ball just in time. If it weren’t for Ben Griffin, Henley would have been disqualified from the event.
The weather conditions on Thursday at TPC Sawgrass became volatile. The morning began with sunshine, but a sudden deluge hit the course shortly after noon. The 21-minute suspension at 12:10 p.m. ET was due to sideways rain and gusty winds approaching 20 mph, which Henley mistook for a tornado.
Defending champion Rory McIlroy, who struggled to a 2-over 74 while nursing a back injury, also commented on how the rain hampered the field’s performance.
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“I felt like from what I experienced yesterday evening in terms of the golf course and the greens compared to what we played today, it was so different. The greens were two feet slower, so much softer just because of the rain. So a little bit of an adjustment there.”
But despite the lack of a warm-up and the mental stress of the scramble, Henley played remarkably well. He managed to par the par-5 second hole immediately after the restart. He then proceeded to fire three birdies on the front nine (at holes 4, 7, and 9) and eventually signed the day for a 4-under 68. At the end of the day, Henley sat in a tie for sixth (T-6), just one shot off the lead.
Had Henley gotten disqualified, he would not have been the first player to face this situation.
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During the second round of the 2024 Butterfield Bermuda Championship, Raul Pereda was disqualified when he was not in place to play at the resumption of the delayed second round on Saturday morning.
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Marcus Meloan, who was enjoying a stellar week, hovered around T-20 during the third round at Omaha Country Club before his disqualification from the 2021 U.S. Senior Open.
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Jing Yan almost faced the same fate at the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open due to a delay. She barely made it within the five-minute grace period but still received a penalty.
And while Henley was running through the rain, other stars were busy making their own magic on the TPC Sawgrass course.
The battle for the lead at the PLAYERS’ field
Maverick McNealy shared the lead with a fantastic 67. Lee Hodges also played outstanding golf to join him at five-under par. Several others, like Sepp Straka and Sahith Theegala, also shared the lead, finishing with the same score. Austin Smotherman was 5-under through 17 holes before play was suspended for darkness. All of them played spectacularly after navigating the gusty winds and heavy rain.
The most impressive recovery story of the day belonged to Justin Thomas. Thomas had been sidelined for roughly six months following a microdiscectomy on his lower back in November 2025. And one week ago, his season debut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational (API) was a disaster. He shot back-to-back 79s to miss the cut, finishing at the bottom of the field.
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“It kind of s**ks, to be honest,” Thomas said after the API. “Obviously not how I expected it to go. But the rust aspect, kind of unfortunately, was a little bit of what I anticipated.”
However, Thomas managed to find his rhythm yesterday. He opened his first round with three consecutive birdies, appearing to have completely shed the rust. He then stretched the lead to 6-under par at one point and was leading the field outright. Unfortunately, he bogeyed the final two holes (17 and 18) to finish with a 4-under 68. Despite the late slip, he ended the day at T-6 alongside Henley, firmly back in contention for his second PLAYERS title.
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