USGA plans plenty of golf Friday, expects more rain Saturday

By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- The good news? The first round of the 109th U.S. Open resumed four minutes early on Friday, and it appears that the weather will cooperate.

For a day, at least. A forecast that calls for an 80 percent chance of rain on Saturday and 60 percent on Sunday has USGA officials openly talking about the possibility of extending the championship into next week, though.

"Tomorrow's weather is going to have a giant impact on what we do," said Jim Hyler, a USGA vice president and chairman of the Championship Committee.

Hyler said he hopes the rain-delayed first round will be completed by 5:30 p.m. on Friday. The second round still will go off as scheduled at 4 p.m.

"The pace of play is taking a little bit longer because of embedded balls and casual water rulings," Hyler said. "We will play all the golf we possibly can today. We'll play just as late into the late afternoon, until people can't see."

Some players, like amateur Drew Weaver, who is tied for the early lead with Graeme McDowell at 1 under, will have a lengthy rest. Others, like Tiger Woods, who shot 4 over and made a pair of double bogeys, will have extra time on the practice range.

Then the uncertainty begins. The plan is to resume play at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday with the second-round, morning wave of tee times. The afternoon wave, which would include players like Weaver, Woods and McDowell, would begin around 9-9:30 a.m.

That's in a perfect world.

Saturday's rain is expected to begin by mid-morning, and the accumulation of an inch or more is possible on a course that absorbed 1.25 inches Thursday. The meteorologists have been remarkably on target so far this week -- which is what has everyone so worried.

"Obviously, if we get hit with that kind of rain, that will severely impact our plans," Hyler said. "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 tomorrow. I think beyond that, anything would be pure speculation, just based on the forecast and also the size of the cut."

The USGA cuts to the low 60 and ties at the U.S. Open but also includes anyone within 10 shots of the lead. A total of 80 players made the cut at Torrey Pines last year. Another cut like 1996, when 108 played the final two rounds, would be a challenge.

A smaller cut means there is the possibility -- weather permitting, of course -- of playing split tees and getting 36 holes in on Sunday (or Monday). If the cut is larger, like last year's or in 1996, those prospects dim considerably.

The U.S. Open has only been extended into Monday twice when it wasn't for a playoff like 2008's thriller between Woods and Rocco Mediate. The most recent was in 1983 when play was suspended with fives holes remaining on Sunday due to a thunderstorm.

Hyler said if a similar scenario played out this year with one or a few holes to be finished on Monday, and a playoff was necessary, the USGA would likely go right into it rather than waiting a day.

"We want to finish as soon as we possibly can," he said.

Given what transpired on Thursday, Hyler said the Black Course was in "remarkable condition."

The grounds crew rolled the greens -- some as many as three times -- Friday morning, and they are rolling at 13 ½ on the Stimpmeter.