Rule 5.3a (Starting and 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 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, a further delay means disqualification. Russell Henley almost fell victim to that at the 2026 PLAYERS Championship on Thursday. He thought the weather suspension at TPC Sawgrass would last at least an hour. It was only a 21-minute delay, which he was oblivious to.

“I didn’t stay in place,” Henley told the media after finishing his round. “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.'”

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.

When the weather horn sounded, the five-time PGA Tour winner was on the 2nd green. He ran off to the clubhouse, which was nearby. If it weren’t for Ben Griffin, Henley wouldn’t have known that play had begun and most likely would have been DQ’d for failing to return to his spot in time.

“It was kind of a quick, stressful 10 minutes or whatever it was. But made it on time,” he added.

But despite the lack of a warm-up and the mental stress of the scramble, Russell 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.

• 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.
• 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.
• Norman Xiong was disqualified from the 2025 PGA Tour Q-School for missing his tee time.
• Curtis Luck, on the other hand, actually misread his tee time at the Albertsons Boise Open. He was on the range during his 7:45 am tee time, thinking he would tee off 10 minutes later. The 29-year-old was told he had been disqualified when he arrived on the first tee around 7:51 am, missing the 5-minute grace period by barely 10 seconds.

Noted pro golfers have also been victims of this rule, although they avoided getting DQ’d. Dustin Johnson was assessed a two-stroke penalty for being late to his 7:32 am tee time at the 2011 Genesis Invitational. Similar to Luck, DJ was also in the range when he was actually supposed to be on the first tee. His caddie misread the tee time by 40 minutes.

Thanks to a PGA Tour official, who rushed to inform Johnson about his tee time, the former Masters champ avoided a disqualification. He arrived with six minutes to spare. Funnily enough, Rory McIlroy once almost missed his tee time at the 2012 Ryder Cup. His future wife, Erica Stoll, who was then working with the PGA of America, came to his rescue.

McIlroy mistook his starting time due to confusion between Central Time and Eastern Time. PGA of America transport officials, Maggie Budzar and Erica Stoll, arranged a player-shuttle service to make sure McIlroy arrived at the tee box in time.  He barely made it 12 minutes before his singles match against Keegan Bradley.

The Ulsterman is the defending champion at this year’s PLAYERS. McIlroy, struggling to a 2-over 74 while nursing a back injury, also commented on how the rain hampered the field’s performance.

“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.”

Some of the pros excelled despite the rain, and right now there is a five-way tie at the top of the leaderboard.

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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.

“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.