Blame it on the weatherman

Storms forecast to hit Royal Melbourne on Friday afternoon caused an earlier than usual start to the second day's proceedings. The man responsible for providing the weather warnings is PGA Tour meteorologist, Wade Stetner, and BackPageLead caught up with the American before play to find out how he exerts his influence on such a prestigious competition.

"I discussed with the tournament director what the forecast is and then they make a determination whether it's a good idea to go a little bit early," Stetner told BackPageLead. "I believe the decision was made because we have such a small field and such a late start that it really wouldn't affect the tournament so much to go a little bit earlier and you don't want to get caught off guard with a thunderstorm late in the day when you can't finish."

Winds were blowing hard from the north at the start of play with gusts over 30kph and temperatures already in the high 20s. There were fears that even without storms the conditions could be almost too treacherous for competitive golf. With the stimpmeter predicted to tip 14 on rock hard greens there is a danger stationary balls could move in the strongest gusts.

"There is a chance, certainly not a guarantee that we're going to get interference." Stetner explained.

The American is used to forecasting the weather in the United States and has found predicting Victoria's capricious weather patterns challenging. "I have learned in Melbourne that the weather can be very extreme from day to day but the computer models that we use have been doing a pretty good job and I interpret what they say is going to happen and create the forecasts based on that."

Stetner might be faced with four seasons in one day at the Royal Melbourne but he has experience of far more extreme weather conditions in his time on the PGA Tour. "We've seen severe weather where it's done damage on the golf course," he said. "Rain so heavy you have to stop because it starts flooding the area. Winds so strong that you can't play because it blows the balls right off the green. Throughout the years I've seen almost everything, even fog banks that form off the water that makes play impossible because you can't see from the tee to the green. Mother nature really throws everything at me."

Mickelson's wayward driving

Phil Mickelson triumphed easily in his first Presidents Cup foursome on Thursday, thanks largely to his precision tee-shots. Unfortunately the same can't be said for the southpaw's cart driving which left the Royal Melbourne media tent a little out of shape following a pre-round bingle. Mickelson's cart drove into a step at the rear entrance of the media facility leaving the four-time major winner's face as red as his sweater vest.