The Humana Challenge was suspended midway through the third round after high winds caused damage on all three courses being used.
Trees were toppled, balls were blown off the greens and a scoreboard was blown into a lake.
The tournament will resume third-round play early on Sunday with Mark Wilson holding a three-stroke lead over Ben Crane.
The pro-am tournament reported no injuries, but called an early halt after 35-mph (55-kph) winds rampaged across the Palm Springs area in the early afternoon. The amateur players, including former President Bill Clinton, won't get to finish their rounds on Sunday.
"It's really bad," said Slugger White, the US PGA Tour's vice president of rules and competitions. "They've got a lot of trees down. It's a real mess. ... We knew (the wind) was going to be bad, but we thought it would be something we could play with, and then the bottom fell out."
White said he believes they can finish the four-round event on Sunday "in a perfect world." Wilson doubts it after ferocious gusts interrupted a previously perfect weekend of Palm Springs weather.
"It's amazing how it happened so quickly, but we've seen it before," said Wilson, who's at 21 under for the tournament after going 5 under through 15 holes at the La Quinta Country Club course, which sustained the most damage. "I think they made the right call. You don't want to see anybody get hurt."
Most of the golfers were past the turn in the third round when kicked up, blowing balls around the course, sending a large scoreboard into a lake on the Palmer Private course and wrecking an awning in the Bob Hope Square fan area. Several trees were toppled at the La Quinta course, while the other two courses had only cosmetic damage and blowing debris.
