Participants in the Region 3-A/AA golf tournament received a cruel message Monday morning.
They were instructed to go to school instead of Valleybrook Golf and Country Club.
Golfers in the Region 4-A/AA tournament received a similar message after most arrived to compete at Bear Trace at Harrison Bay and battle for individual and team participation in the state tournament.
"We think they all went back to school -- eagerly," Region 4 tournament director Don Holwerda joked.
Both region events were rained out and rescheduled.
The Region 3 tournament -- with the likes of East Hamilton, Hixson, Polk County and McMinn Central -- will begin today at 11 a.m. at Valleybrook.
Tournament director Jeff Stetzler, the East Hamilton coach, made the call to postpone before 6 a.m., knowing that Valleybrook is a low-lying course prone to flooding in heavy rains and soggy conditions with moderate rain.
"The weather looked like it would be unplayable," Stetzler said. "For the purposes of a big tournament like this, it's the best thing to do."
The Region 4 tournament -- with area teams including Signal Mountain and Notre Dame as well as DeKalb County and Clay County -- will begin Wednesday just after 11 at Bear Trace at Harrison Bay. It will use groups of four instead of threesomes as planned for Monday.
Holwerda attempted to get the tournament completed in the wet conditions. The first group off completed five holes in adverse conditions. Then the skies opened up with more rain and forced the cancellation of the first round.
All players will start Wednesday as if they hadn't hit a shot. A similar situation arose during the Women's British Open a few weeks ago and sent all players back to square one on the scorecard.
"The rain picked up, got worse, and the greens were covered with water and fairways were flooded and it became unplayable," said Holwerda, the Chattanooga Christian coach. "Our best bet to give kids a fair shot to make the state tournament would be to give them a better course to play on."
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP