Golf: US Open chief hoping cut is brutal as more clouds loom

Published on Saturday 20 June 2009 11:25

US OPEN chief Jim Hyler is hoping for the smallest possible numbers of golfers making the cut at Bethpage Black later today as he aims to finish the championship as close to on time as possible.

After losing most of Thursday's play to heavy rain as an inch of water fell on the Long Island course, tournament officials are bracing for the possibility of even more hitting the Black course at Bethpage State Park.

United States Golf Association meteorologists have been tracking a low pressure system heading towards Long Island from the Great Lakes region to the north west of New York and say there is an 80 per cent chance of very heavy rain falling on the course.

A further loss of playing time is likely to extend the regulation 72 holes into Monday, regardless of the need for an 18-hole play-off and, with US Open championship rules providing for a 36-hole cut of the 156-man field to the low 60 scorers and ties and any player within 10 strokes of the leader, that could mean a long backlog of rounds to be played.

"We'll play all the golf we possibly can," said USGA vice president Hyler.

"Obviously if we get hit with that kind of rain, that will severely impact our plans. But if we get lucky on the weather, maybe somehow we dodge a lot of that.

"There is a chance that we could finish Round 2 (on Saturday). I think beyond that, anything would be pure speculation."

As of last night, as the early second round starters reached the halfway mark in their rounds, more than 100 players would survive under the 10-shot rule, within distance of Mike Weir and Lucas Glover's lead at five under par.

"If we had a small cut, say 60 or low 60s, we'd have more flexibility than if we had 100 people making the cut," Hyler said.

On the course, Tiger Woods endured the second-worst finish to a round of his professional career and predicted conditions would get worse as the tournament progressed.

Woods finished his delayed opening round by going four over par over the final four holes, recording a run of double bogey, bogey, par, bogey to leave him with a four-over 74, 10 strokes behind eventual first-round leader Mike Weir.

In 230 professional starts the world number one has done that two other times, both in 1999.

This was the first time Woods endured such a nightmare finish in a major as his title defence got off to an inauspicious start.

Having seen his opening round spread out over 24 hours, Woods said: "I wasn't playing poorly.

"I was even par with four to go, and I was right there where I needed to be, and two bad shots and a mud ball later, here we go and I'm at four over par."

England's Ian Poulter also saw his first round dragged out across two days but managed to stay in touch with the later starters with a level par 70.

He said: "It's going to be a wet weekend from the forecast so we just have to get on with it."