NEW YORK, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- The approach of Hurricane Irene Friday forced the world of professional sports to make a series of major adjustments in the nation's largest population center.
Major League Baseball, the National Football League and the PGA Tour were all affected by the approaching storm, which was aimed for the metropolitan New York area.
Games scheduled for both Saturday and Sunday in New York between the Mets and Atlanta Braves were postponed, and will be played as a doubleheader Thursday, Sept. 8, which had been scheduled as an off day for both teams.
The Philadelphia Phillies postponed Saturday's scheduled home game against the Florida Marlins. The game will be made up Sept. 15.
Baltimore and the New York Yankees also postponed a scheduled Saturday game. No makeup date was initially announced.
An exhibition game between the New York Jets and New York Giants was originally advanced from 7 p.m. EDT to 2 p.m. Saturday, but the contest was then postponed until Monday night.
The Giants-Jets exhibition game was the only NFL contest remaining to be played this weekend that was scheduled to take place in the affected area. Both Baltimore and Philadelphia hosted games Thursday.
Officials at The Barclays, the first of four PGA Tour playoff events that got under way Thursday, was reduced from 72 holes to 54. With rain in the forecast for Saturday, tournament officials faced the possibility the third round could not be finished. If that is the case, the 36-hole totals will be deemed the final results.
The third round of The Barclays was set to start at 7 a.m. Saturday in hopes of getting 18 holes completed before conditions make play impossible.
"We weighed all the options available to us, and under normal circumstances, we would obviously prefer to complete 72 holes," said PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem. "That's even more true here at The Barclays, considering that this is such an important event to our players as they look to advance through the PGA Tour Playoffs for the FedEx Cup.
"But these aren't normal circumstances. We realize that 'waiting it out' until Hurricane Irene passes and trying to play golf on Monday or Tuesday would only add unnecessary strain to those who will be trying to help the community recover from whatever potential damage this storm causes."
