Rain suspends play at Ryder Cup

Europe today made an excellent start on the opening morning of the Ryder Cup before horrendous conditions brought play to a grinding halt.

Play was suspended at 9:45am after persistent heavy rain left many parts of the Twenty Ten course at Celtic Manor under water, despite the best efforts of the greenkeeping staff.

There was already standing water on the first fairway before the opening shots were struck at 7:45am, and two more hours of rain meant large puddles on the greens and bunkers which looked more like lakes than sand traps.

Speaking about the decision to suspend play, European vice-captain Darren Clarke said: “It’s a tough call with all these people here and everyone watching but I think it’s the right call.

“It’s going to be a little while before we’re back out here.”

Europe drew first blood on the opening morning with only Padraig Harrington and Luke Donald trailing in their game against Ryder Cup rookies Bubba Watson and Jeff Overton.

There were already several patches of standing water on the first fairway and greenkeepers were still attempting to clear more from the landing area just moments before the opening tee shots were struck.

And as heavy rain continued to fall, large puddles were forming on the greens and the first fairway was looking more like the river Usk which runs alongside it.

Conditions were even less palatable in the rough, with Tiger Woods unable to even get his ball back on the short grass with a fairway wood after pulling his opening drive into trouble.

The home side were coping far better with the weather, Lee Westwood holing from six feet for birdie on the second to give him and playing partner Martin Kaymer the lead over Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson in the opening match after Johnson had missed from slightly further away.

Graeme McDowell’s par on the first was good enough to win that hole too against Stewart Cink and Matt Kuchar, with the American pair only able to manage a bogey five between them.

And it was the same story in the third match with Ross Fisher and Ian Poulter going one up on Woods and Steve Stricker – who had a 100% record from four matches in last year’s Presidents Cup – courtesy of Fisher’s par four.

However, all the work needed to clear the greens and fairways meant it had taken McDowell and Rory McIlroy’s group an amazing 26 minutes to play the opening hole, with European skipper Colin Montgomerie admitting time would be a major factor.

“I’ve been told if this was a strokeplay event this might not be taking place,” Montgomerie said.

“Fingers crossed this (play) continues because we don’t have much leeway to finish these matches on time.

“It must favour us this weather. It’s not fun for anybody but less so for the Americans. Let’s just hope it does not get so waterlogged that we can’t play.”

In the final match, Padraig Harrington will no doubt be using the conditions and slow play as an excuse after smashing his second shot through the green while the match ahead was still putting out.

Harrington, a controversial wild card pick by Montgomerie, looked stunned when he was told and raised his hands in a sheepish apology.

US captain Corey Pavin had sprung a surprise by putting rookies Bubba Watson and Jeff Overton out in the final match, but Overton responded by holing from off the green at the first for a birdie.

And Watson then birdied the second as well to put the American pair two up on Donald and Harrington, those two holes taking an hour to complete.

Westwood’s par on the fourth was enough to put him and Kaymer two up against Mickelson and Johnson, while Poulter sank a long birdie putt on the third to go one ahead of Woods and Stricker.

Cink had also birdied the same hole to make the second match all square, but that state of affairs only lasted until the next hole when McDowell’s superb up and down from a soggy bunker was enough to win the hole.

Europe were therefore back to being ahead in three matches and down in one.