PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas -- Faced with a flooded course in which some fairways were more suited for fishing than playing golf, the LPGA Tour found a unique solution Thursday. It shortened the Ocean Club to 12 holes for at least the first round of its inaugural Bahamas Classic. The only other option might have been to cancel the tournament. A storm the locals havent seen in 20 years poured a foot of rain on Paradise Island earlier in the week. A lake that separates the ninth and 18th holes turned into a lagoon, setting off a chain reaction of drainage problems. Even with nine pumps siphoning water back into the ocean, progress was slow. "Every time I come up with a decision, a third of my tour doesnt like it. But I cant be afraid of that," LPGA Tour commissioner Mike Whan said. "I dont expect people to love the outcome, but its better than the alternative. ... Everybody who plays over the next few days is going to play the same thing. Its OK not to like it." Whan listened to a spirited discussion about the Bahamas Classic counting as official. The LPGA Tour policy says a tournament has to be 36 holes to be official, and this likely will be every bit of that -- if not more. The tournament will start Friday over 12 holes, and the number of holes could be expanded each day depending on how fast the water drains. The hope was for an 18-hole finish on Sunday. "I feel sorry for Pure Silk. Theyve done a hell of a job with the tournament," Juli Inkster said. Ohio-based Pure Silk signed on with the Bahamas Tourism Ministry as title sponsors of the $1.3 million event, the first time the LPGA Tour has come to the Bahamas. "I think we should play," Inkster said. "We should play as many as we can and crown a winner. I just think were here, and everyone has the same opportunity to play well and win. Its a rare thing thats happened once since Ive been out here. And Ive been out here a long time." Inkster and Laura Davies were at the 1988 Kemper Open in Hawaii, which not only was shortened to 54 holes because of torrential rain, but only 16 holes were used for the first round because two holes were under water. Going even further back in history -- way back -- the British Open first was played at Prestwick and contested on the 12-hour course over three rounds until the course eventually expanded to 18 holes. So the winner of the Bahamas Classic will have something in common with Old Tom Morris. Stacy Lewis won a tournament in Arkansas where it rained so hard it took three days to get in 18 holes. It did not count as official. "Its strange to play 12 holes a day, but were all going to play the same holes," she said. "When you get out there and play, you do the best you can." How flooded is the course? Lewis has quite the fish tale. She was on the course Wednesday afternoon with Brittany Lincicome, not with golf clubs but fishing rods. Wading along in the ninth fairway, Lewis said she hooked a tarpon she estimated at about 4 feet. The tarpon spun high out of the water and broke the line. Yes, the big one got away. "Ive hooked some big ones," Lewis said. "But Ive never seen a fish that big on a golf course." Starting times have been adjusted. Instead of a two-tee start for the 144-player field, everyone will start on No. 10 and then weave their way around the Tom Weiskopf design in the following order: 6-7-4-5-11-12-13-14-2-3 before finishing on No. 8. The pars and yardages on some holes might have to change, though one principle of golf remains -- low score wins. Suzann Pettersen was among those peppering Whan with questions on why it would be official, especially with Solheim Cup and ranking points available, along with the money list. She stood by her opinion, but was ready and willing to play. "Were doing the best with what we have," Pettersen said. "Youve just got to fill out whatever box is there on the scorecard." Davies came to the Ocean Club on Thursday, which was sunny and balmy for much of the day, just to get some practice. She had been at the Atlantis Resort for so much of the week, and she stopped going to casinos "because I dont win anymore." Sizing up the situation at the course, Davies said the LPGA Tour "made the best of a bad lot." "Youve got all these people working so hard to get the course ready," she said. "Its different, dont get me wrong. But I agree with them. Lets play. ... It takes a lot away if its not official. And its the same for everybody." It also put new meaning in the LPGA Tours slogan: "See why its different out here." Custom New York Mets Jerseys .ca NHL Power Rankings for the second straight week, ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Colorado Avalanche. 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GENEVA -- It was the FIFA ethics investigation many hoped would remove Russia and Qatar as World Cup hosts.But two years after disputed details of the so-called Garcia Report into the 2018-2022 World Cup bid campaigns were first revealed, it is still not close to being published.Switzerlands federal prosecution office suggests it might take three more years before its investigation of alleged FIFA-linked money laundering is complete and the 430-page dossier can be published.FIFA critics and presidential candidates have often demanded that the Garcia Report -- read in its entirety by perhaps as few as seven authorized people -- be released to help judge if the hosting contests were won fairly in a December 2010 vote of the soccer bodys scandal-tainted executive committee.Michael Garcia, the FIFA ethics prosecutor who led the investigation, himself asked for appropriate publication that would protect witnesses before he resigned to protest how his work was handled.Still, the American lawyers report was the basis of a criminal complaint by FIFA to Switzerlands federal prosecutors on Nov. 18, 2014 -- and must stay sealed and confidential during that case.The Swiss federal investigation of suspected criminal mismanagement and money laundering during the 11-nation bid campaigns might not be over when the next World Cup kicks off in June 2018 in Moscow.This type of criminal proceeding (is) time consuming and resource intense. Usually, respective proceedings take some three to five years, the office of Swiss attorney general Michael Lauber said in a statement to The Associated Press.As the report in question is to be seen as evidence in ongoing criminal proceedings, the OAG hardly sees any legally justifiable way the report (can be) published, the Swiss federal office said.Laubers team currently has 172 suspicious transactions which passed through Swiss banks to examine.Adding to the Swiss workload, prosecutions of alleged corruption that spun off the original FIFA case are ongoing against former president Sepp Blatter, fired secretary general Jerome Valcke, and organizers of the 2006 World Cup including Germany great Franz Beckenbauer.A further complication is that potential witnesses, including some FIFA voters six years ago, are scattered worldwide, have not returned to Switzerland and previously refused to answer Garcias questions.Garcias ultimately short career at FIFA is defined by an investigation many hoped would lead to a re-run of the 2018-2022 hosting votes.Appointed in July 2012 by an executive committee he would investigate, the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York was given unlimited time and resources but limited evidence-gatheringg powers within a new FIFA Code of Ethics.ddddddddddddIn September 2014, Garcia submitted his 350-page investigation into seven bid candidates, plus a further 80 pages of files on American and Russian bids which were investigated by his deputy, Cornel Borbely.On Nov. 13, 2014, FIFA published a 42-page summary by chief ethics judge Joachim Eckert. It left Garcia furious.Eckert wrote that while he saw certain occurrences that were suited to impair the integrity of the vote, they were limited in scope. The German judge advised Blatters executive committee to let the results stand.Within hours, Garcia hit out at numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of facts and conclusions. He challenged Eckerts summary at the FIFA appeals committee.Garcia resigned a month later after FIFA dismissed his appeal.The Report identified serious and wide-ranging issues with the bidding and selection process, Garcia wrote in a resignation statement, citing his lost confidence in Eckerts independence and Blatters leadership.Garcia has not commented since, and declined comment to the AP for this article.As Garcia and Eckert very publicly fell out, FIFA filed the Swiss criminal complaint and further legal opinions were sought which supported Eckerts position. Blatter later invited Eckert to publish a redacted report when any subsequent ethics cases were complete.At least two known cases -- involving former FIFA vice president Chung Mong-joon and former bid inspector Harold Mayne-Nicholls -- are still active, FIFA told the AP in a recent statement. Both men got reduced ethics ban at the FIFA appeals panel and could go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.Due to ongoing ethics proceedings and the possibility that further cases might be opened in the future, a publication of the `Garcia Report is not possible at the moment, Eckerts office said in a statement.It is Lauber, however, who is set to shape the legacy of the multi-million dollar Garcia investigation.Garcia himself wrote, in summary by Eckert, about the limitations of his work.To assume, e.g., that envelopes full of cash are given in exchange for votes on a FIFA World Cup host is naive, the 42-page summary stated. Corruption, also in general business not linked to football, is executed in much more sophisticated ways, including money transfers through several different accounts of consultants, trusts, offshore companies, etc.Laubers federal prosecutors have the mandate to explore those channels within a criminal case that he formally opened in 2015 -- on March 10, Blatters birthday. ' ' '