ATLANTA — Six people were injured Saturday when lightning struck a 60-foot pine tree at the Tour Championship, where they were taking cover from rain, and showered them with debris, Atlanta police said.

The third round of the season-ending PGA Tour event had been suspended for about 30 minutes because of storms in the area, and fans were instructed to seek shelter. The strike hit the top of the tree just off the 16th tee and shattered the bark all the way to the bottom.

Brad Uhl of Atlanta was among those crammed under a hospital tent to the right of the 16th hole that was open to the public.

“There was just a big explosion and then an aftershock so strong you could feel the wind from it,” Uhl said after the last of the ambulances pulled out of the golf course. “It was just a flash out of the corner of the eye. It was raining and everyone was huddled near the tree.”

Uhl said the people on the ground were moving around before the ambulances arrived.

Atlanta Police spokesman James H. White III said five men and one female juvenile had sought shelter beneath a tree. Lightning struck the tree and all six were injured. He said they were taken to hospitals for further treatment, all of them alert, conscious and breathing.

Ambulances streamed into the private club about 6 miles east of downtown Atlanta, where 30 players are competing for the FedEx Cup and its $15 million prize. The players already had been taken into the clubhouse before lightning hit, and before long East Lake was hit with a ground-shaking clap of thunder.

Mark Russell, the PGA Tour’s vice president of rules and competitions, said there were dual lightning strikes to the maintenance area and the tree on the 16th hole.

Justin Thomas, who had a one-shot lead through five holes when play was halted, said players were eating in the clubhouse when “it felt like the entire clubhouse shook” from the thunder clap.

“The first I heard anything was from one of my friends who came out to watch,” Thomas said. “He said, ‘Dude, I think someone got struck by lightning right next to us.’ And then word started spreading.”

Thomas said he had left tickets for another friend who was on the opposite side of where the tree was hit.

The PGA Tour canceled the rest of golf Saturday, with the round to resume at 8 a.m. Sunday, followed by the final round.

Russell said signs were posted on scoreboards warning of severe weather approaching.

“When we suspend play, we encourage everybody to leave and take shelter anywhere they can,” Russell said. “We opened up hospitality areas that are grounded, a lot of other places like that. You’ve got a lot of people, and you have to do that quickly, and sometimes people don’t take shelter.”

PGA Tour-sanctioned events have not had a death from lightning since the summer of 1991. One man was killed and five were injured from lightning at the U.S. Open at Hazeltine outside Minneapolis. Two months later, a man was struck and killed by lightning walking to his car during a storm delay at the PGA Championship at Crooked Stick in Indiana.

LPGA: Top-ranked Jin Young Ko shot a 7-under 65 to grab a share of the lead heading into the final round of the CP Women’s Open in Aurora, Ontario.

Ko is tied with Nicole Broch Larsen at 18 under. Defending champion Brooke Henderson of Canada is another two shots back in third.

Ko, winner of two major championships this year, is seeking her fourth win overall. The last LPGA player to win four times in a season was Lydia Ko in 2016.

Henderson also shot a 65. Broch Larsen posted her third straight 66.

CHAMPIONS TOUR: Fred Couples made a hole-in-one in a round of 9-under 63 and built a five-shot lead after two rounds of the Boeing Classic, his hometown tournament in Snoqualmie, Washington, that he is trying to win for the first time.

Couples made the ace on No. 9, using a 4 iron on the 203-yard hole.

David Toms shot a 9-under 63 and was tied for second at 11 under with Paul Broadhurst, who followed an opening 66 with a 67. Bernhard Langer (68), Ken Duke (66) and Stephen Leaney (68) were another stroke back at 10 under.

EUROPEAN TOUR: South African golfer Erik van Rooyen birdied five of his last six holes to shoot a 6-under 64 and take a one-stroke lead into the final round of the Scandinavian Invitation in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Van Rooyen is bidding to win his first European Tour title after posting two second-place finishes among five top-10s this season – his first on the circuit since graduating from the second-tier Challenge Tour.

He was at 13-under 197 through three rounds, one clear of Matt Fitzpatrick of England (69), Ashun Wu of China (67) and Wade Ormsby (65).

Henrik Stenson, playing in his native Sweden, shot a 69 and was in a five-way tie for fifth at 10 under.