Andy Holding, the West Region PGA tournament controller, could not wait to take on his first assignment of the New Year in Arizona and Nevada.

He helped run national pro-ams based in Scottsdale and Las Vegas and was looking forward to the warm winter sunshine. He certainly didn't bargain for snow and frost. Yet that was what he encountered.

The ex-marine and single-figure golfer at East Devon is used to working in all conditions, but even he was surprised at Paiute golf course high on a snowy mountain.

He said: "The temperature dropped and there were icicles 3ft long and an inch thick so there was a frost delay."