Farmingdale, June 18: The first round will resume 7:30 a.m. Friday and may push the tournament’s final round into Monday, although a definitive schedule has not been released. Friday’s forecast contains a chance of rain; it will otherwise be cloudy with temperatures in the mid-70s. Saturday brings another chance of rain.
United States Golf Association officials said that roughly an inch of rain had fallen on the course Thursday morning and early afternoon and that workers were no longer able to clear water off the greens fast enough to make them playable.
Seventy-eight players began the first round Thursday, with the first groups completing 11 holes. Four players were tied for the lead at one under par: Jeff Brehaut, who was through 11 holes; Johan Edfors, who was through four; and Andrew Parr and Ryan Spears through three.
When Tiger Woods and his marquee group, which also included Ángel Cabrera and Padraig Harrington, stepped to the first tee with the rain falling steadily, fans near the crowded the tee box managed to keep a sense of humor. After applause greeted Woods’s introduction like a crack of thunder, one fan yelled out, “Go, Padraig.” Another shouted, “Go, Tiger.” There was a pause, and then from across the bleachers, someone yelled, “O.K., I’ll bite.” Cabrera said earlier in the week that he would not be intimidated by playing in front of the large, boisterous crowds that follow Woods. On the first hole, he did not handle the commotion well. He drove into the left rough, but Woods drove even farther left, his ball landing in front of a merchandise tent.
Woods put his second shot in a greenside bunker, after which photographers and fans scurried for position. Photographers were trying to get back inside the ropes and fans were trying to hold their ground in a scrum that looked like the Holland Tunnel entrance at rush hour.
A policeman was trying in vain to get people to stand still while a few yards away Cabrera stood over his ball. Instead of backing off the shot, he hit the shot and struck it poorly, then looked back and glared at the crowd.
His ball landed well in front of the green, leading to a bogey. Woods saved par, and Harrington, who was on the green in two, three-putted for bogey.
When the group arrived at the second green, it was met by six volunteers with squeegees. They dried the green while the players were reading their putts, then took more swipes at the green between putts.
It was Cabrera, though, who steadied himself while Woods and Harrington struggled. Harrington fell to four over par by the fifth hole, where Woods made double-bogey after missing the fairway with his drive, hitting into a bunker and missing a 15-foot putt for bogey. That put him at two over.
Woods birdied No. 6 with a 25-foot putt to get one of those strokes back before play was suspended. He was removing his rain jacket before every shot and playing in a short-sleeve golf shirt, despite the cool temperatures.
Course officials had adjusted the course setup in the morning to account for the weather, moving up the tees on four holes — Nos. 7, 9, 10 and 12 — because the ball would not roll at all on the wet course.
Workers were aggressively using squeegees to keep water off the greens, sometimes between putts. Jim Hyler, U.S.G.A. vice president and chairman of the championship committee, said players were allowed to request the line of their putt be squeegeed before they hit the ball, as long as the squeegee also cleared three feet beyond the hole.
Hyler said officials were concerned about the 18th fairway, which was under water as the rain grew heavier. Players were allowed relief out of standing water, but he said in some cases relief was more than 50 feet away and players were choosing to hit out of the water instead.
–Agencies