Jay finds patience a virtue

YOU all know the one about patience seldom in a woman, never in a man. Well, females aren't allowed to play in the US Open so the males had the field to themselves yesterday to disprove that old adage.

And, by and large, they succeeded admirably on one of the quirkiest and trickiest courses ever in a US Open Championship. Admittedly, their task was made all the easier by the almost total absence of wind. It wasn't that the scoreboard proliferated with red figures but there were enough of them to dispel the oft expressed pre-tournament prediction that level par would be sufficient to land the title and the riches that go with it.

Nevertheless, it was hardly surprising that it was Jay Haas who at 50 knows a thing or two about keeping his head and the relatively phlegmatic Japanese Shigeki Maruyama who led the way on four under par 66 when play was suspended at 5.45pm local time because of a thunderstorm. The big hitting Argentinean Angel Cabrera was in hot pursuit on the same mark having completed nine holes, while Fred Funk, 3 under after 14, was also going nicely. Ireland's Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke were engaged in their own personal battle with the course: four and one over par 13 and 11 holes, respectively.