Rain Suspends U.S. Open, Parr Leads At 1-Under

19/06/2009 01:59

The first round of the 109th U.S. Open at Bethpage Black has been suspended by rain until Friday morning.

Just 78 of the 156 players in the field were able to tee off on Thursday under poor playing conditions.

Rain began early on Thursday morning but the field played through it until about 10:15am et, when officials halted play. As rains got heavier, the greens were becoming waterlogged and course maintenance crews were unable to keep them playable.

After a delay of nearly four hours, the decision to call off play for the day was made just prior to 2pm et. The first round will resume on Friday morning at 7:30am et.

Andrew Parr of London, ON, a 26-year old member of the Canadian Tour, birdied his first hole of the day and has a share of the lead at 1-under par through 3 holes, along with Jeff Brehaut, Johan Edfors, and Ryan Spears.

Tiger Woods, playing in a group with reigning major winners Angel Cabrera and Padraig Harrington, is 1-over par through six holes. Woods was even through four before encountering difficulty at the par-4 5th hole. After hitting his tee shot into the deep rough, the world's top-ranked player eventually hit into a bunker and later missed a bogey putt to end up with a double-bogey six.

But Woods recovered on the next hole, where he made a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-4 6th to get back to 1-over par.

Canadians Mike Weir and Stephen Ames, along with amateur Nick Taylor, all originally had afternoon tee times and did not begin their first rounds.

With half of the field still to tee off, the second round of the tournament is unlikely to be completed until Saturday.

The weather forecast for Friday calls for better conditions, but there is expected to be a threat of rain in the area for the entire weekend.

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SWIVEL HIPS SAYS:

For at least a half hour before they suspended play yesterday morning, the course was unplayable. It would have been easier to swim on some of those greens rather than putt on them. That the USGA let play go on as long as they did was, in itself, absolutely ridiculous – they should completely wash-out round one and start over.