The Madeira Islands Open – Portugal – BPI makes his history this week as The European Tour’s first rescheduled event, which led us to delving into the annals to find some of sport’s most famous rearranged events...
The 2015 Open Championship
This one will certainly be fresh on the minds of every golf and sports fan, with golf’s oldest Major having to rearrange its final round on Monday just two weeks ago due to inclement weather.
The strong wind played havoc at the ‘Home of Golf’, St Andrews Old Course, on day three, meaning play was suspended early in the day before the golf was abandoned for the day.
Round Three was played on Sunday and the final round of The 144th Open Championship was concluded on Monday, giving sports fanatics a perfect excuse to call in sick for work.
Zach Johnson went on to claim the coveted Claret Jug, overcoming Australian Marc Leishman and South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen in a four-hole play off.
The 2001/2002 Ryder Cup
In the wake of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, The Ryder Cup was postponed for a year as a mark of respect to the victims of the infamous terrorist attacks in the USA.
The unprecedented move to rearrange the event caused a major and permanent reshuffle to the golfing schedule, as the sport’s most famous team event moved from taking place biennially on odd-numbered years to even-numbered years.
As a result, the Presidents Cup, the Solheim Cup and the Seve Trophy, which all take place in years The Ryder Cup is not played) all had to change to odd-numbered years.
The 2002 Ryder Cup was won by Europe at the Belfry in dramatic fashion, with Paul McGinley holing the winning putt on the 18th green sparking scenes. That began a streak of five consecutive home victories for Europe.
The 2001 Wimbledon Final
It is only happenstance that this famous Monday finish at Wimbledon – dubbed People’s Monday at the time – took place the same year the ill-fated Ryder Cup was postponed and it was under entirely different circumstances.
Goran Ivanišević, who began the tournament as the World Number 125, overcame the much-fancied Pat Rafter and his first and only Grand Slam victory was not only notable for breaking many records – becoming the lowest-ranked winner of the famous event's history as well as the first Croatian to win a Grand Slam – but also because the finale took place on a Monday.
The final was forced into rearrangement after a semi-final between Ivanišević and Tim Henman was suspended due to darkness on Friday night, then rained out on Saturday before being completed on Sunday.
The 1989 World Series Baseball
The biggest event in baseball, the World Series takes place over seven games to determine the best the team in north America’s Major League and the 1989 edition has gone down in history as one of the most memorable.
It was the first World Series featuring two sides from the same city – San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics – since 1956, but the much-hyped match-up was disrupted just minutes before the third game when a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck the area, damaging the stadium and causing a power failure.
It was at the time the first major earthquake in the USA to be recorded on TV, as the live broadcast had begun when it struck.
The stadiums of both teams were affected, meaning the World Series was postponed for ten days before resuming and Oakland eventually went on to win 4-0 to emerge victorious in what became known as the ‘Earthquake Series’.
