144th Open: Play resumes at St Andrews after rain delay
Last Updated: 17/07/15 7:13pm
The second day of the 144th Open Championship resumed at 10am after heavy rain forced play to be suspended just after its scheduled start time.
Persistent rain throughout the early hours worsened considerably as Jaco van Zyl, Mark Calcavecchia and Marcel Siem teed off at 6.32am.
The downpour saw a torrent of water gushing down Golf Place, the road leading to the R&A clubhouse, and with the greens quickly flooding, organisers were left with no option but to suspend proceedings at 6.46am.
Greens, fairways and bunkers were flooded and an army of greenkeepers set to work on clearing the standing water, but could not prevent a delay of more than three hours.
"It has been a very tough morning. It started raining just before 5am and we've had 20mm since then, 12mm of those in a very short time period and the course started to puddle and flood in certain areas," said R&A chief executive Peter Dawson.
"The worst rain has passed. We will have a showery spell which we are assured will be over by 10. This a very sandy golf course and once it starts to drain you will find it dries very quickly.
"If there is any course which can take this it is the Old Course at St Andrews."
Weather forecasters had predicted outbreaks of heavy rain in the morning with winds gusting up to 30mph, with speeds increasing to 35-40mph in the afternoon but drier conditions.
The second round will now have to be completed on Saturday morning due to the suspension.
Jordan Spieth, who is two shots behind leader Dustin Johnson as he chases the third leg of an unprecedented calendar year grand slam, was originally scheduled to tee off at 2.34pm and said he was expecting tough conditions.
"It's definitely going to be a brutal day. We just don't know when the rain is going to start, when it's going to stop, if it's going to come back," he said.
"I think it will be a true Scottish day that we all should enjoy the challenge ahead."
Follow the action from St Andrews via the Sky Sports live Open blog.
