U.S. Open - Round 1 Suspended Due to Rain

Tiger Woods title defense at the U.S. Open has been put on hold. 

Over 30,000 fans arrived early to see Tiger tee off at 8:06 am ET. With the rain falling steadily, the United States Golf Association (USGA) used squeegees to push water off the greens. After relentless rain drowned the greens and created pools on some of the fairways, officials suspended play after only 3 hours and 15 minutes of play in the first round. 

No golfer was able to complete more than 11 holes on Thursday and half of the 156-man field didn’t even get started, including Phil Mickelson.

The 78 players who did start are set to return at 7:30 a.m. Friday, and if weather allows the first round to finish, the second round would begin immediately until it was too dark to play.

Weather reports are looking positive for Friday, but meteorologists are predicting that another inch or more of rain could come down on Bethpage Black on Saturday.

Real trouble could come later when the weather improves, and mud sticks to golf balls in the fairway.

The USGA is adamant that players not be allowed to lift, clean and place their golf balls - standard practice on the PGA Tour, but a policy a U.S. Open official once famously called lift, clean and cheat.

If mother nature is slow to co-operate the U.S. Champion may not be crowned until Tuesday.

The leaderboard stands with Jeff Breaut, Johan Edfors, Andrew Parr and Ryan Spears tied for the lead at -1.  Seven others are tied for 5th at even par.  Tiger Woods is tied for 12th at +1 through 6.