First round of RBC Heritage hit by brief rain delay

For a third consecutive week, a weather delay hit the PGA TOUR.

After fog delayed the first round of the Valero Texas Open and rain wreaked havoc at the Masters, the first round of the RBC Heritage was hit by a rain delay.

The first round of the RBC Heritage was delayed at 2:52 p.m. Eastern because of inclement weather. It resumed nearly 90 minutes later, with play getting underway again at 4:15 p.m. Promptly things went poorly for Masters champion Jon Rahm. His first stroke after the rain delay was a putt from 11 feet to try and save par at the 427-yard sixth. He missed to fall to level par and the putting woes continued at the 179-yard seventh (three putts from 66 feet) and 473-yard eighth (three putts from 32 feet).

He stopped the bleeding with a par at the par-4 ninth and made the turn at 2 over. His playing competitors Jordan Spieth and Adam Scott are 3-under and 1-under, respectively. With the sun now shining brightly at 5:13 and sunset not until 7:50, much of the afternoon wave should still finish.

Play was suspended at 7:50 p.m., and of the six players who'll return Friday morning to complete Round 1 is an intriguing one -- Jimmy Walker. The former PGA Championship winner is using a career money exemption for 2022-23. He has missed eight cuts in 12 starts but has an 8-footer for birdie at the par-4 eighth (his 17th hole) to get to 7-under and into a tie with Viktor Hovland.

On the other side of the course, Aaron Rai is at 6-under and will be resuming play with an 11-footer for birdie at the par-4 16th. The six players will resume Round 1 at 8 a.m., while the second-round tee times will commence as scheduled, at 7 a.m. While Rahm never got much going and shot 1-over 72, Spieth and Scott both pushed to 4-under only to stumble coming home. Spieth bogeyed the 16th for 68; Scott bogeyed 14 and doubled 15 and needed a birdie at 18 to shoot 69.