'Never seen that': PGA event called off after 'insane' moment

Play had to be suspended at the PGA Tour's Genesis Invitational on Saturday after high winds wreaked havoc on the event.

The wind was gusting to 55km/h, strong enough in such dry conditions that golf balls were being blown off the green.

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Keegan Bradley found that out the hard way when a long putt at the 10th hole blew straight past the hole and off the green, rolled between two bunkers and towards the rough.

He had to settled for double bogey before officials had the chance to suspend play.

"I've never seen a putt do that," said one TV commentator. "Oh my goodness.

"This is incredible."

A piece of communications equipment was also toppled near the 14th tee, forcing officials to halt play.

“We got into a situation of player safety,” tournament director Steve Rintoul said.

“Safety of our volunteers and everybody else out there on the golf course was our primary reason for shutting things down.

“We had a piece of communications equipment fall down very close to some players on the 14th tee, which really makes us as a committee step back and say maybe we need to go ahead and suspend now because it gets really more dangerous out there and that was ultimately the decision.

"We had some balls move around on the putting greens, which we were able to deal with under the rules."

Fans were left in disbelief over the extraordinary scenes.

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Sam Burns, who had a five-shot lead going into the third round, was poised over his opening tee shot when the horn sounded to suspend the round.

“I kind of expected it to happen,” said Burns, who is eyeing off his first PGA title.

“I was on the chipping green and balls were coming off the green. I was like, eventually there’s going to be a halt of play.”

The wind both hurt and helped at the famed course, which is half an hour from downtown Los Angeles.

At the green on the fourth hole, JB Holmes stood over a putt when his cap was blown off his head.

He backed off his putt as the wind then blew his ball across the green to the fringe.

Max Homa, on the other hand, hit 5-iron from 222 yards on the par-5 opening hole to the middle of the green, and the wind and slope pushed it closer and closer to the hole until it stopped 10 inches away.

Homa tapped in for eagle to reach 8-under par, four shots out of the lead, right before the horn sounded.

Weather delays are not unusual in golf, just not when the sky is brilliant blue and visibility is so good the Pacific could easily be seen through gaps in the eucalyptus trees.

with AAP

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