KEY POINTS:
Golf officials were playing a waiting game after rain delayed the second round of the US$650,000 PGA Championship here today.
Heavy overnight rain left the Clearwater course on the outskirts of Christchurch unplayable.
Many bunkers on the 6513m course were full of water and large puddles had formed on the fairways and some greens.
Officials delayed the start of the round, scheduled to get underway at 7.30am, and later said they would reconsider the situation at 2pm.
Rain continued to fall throughout the morning, and the immediate forecast was for more showers today, leaving the very real possibility that the second round would be delayed until tomorrow.
Tomorrow's forecast is no more promising, with rain and strong southerlies expected, but officials are at this stage considering only the repercussions for today's play.
The championship is co-sanctioned by the Nationwide Tour in the United States and the PGA Tour of Australasia.
Andrew Langford-Jones, the tournament director for the Australasian body, said officials were closely monitoring the weather.
"It's too early to call it off for the day. There definitely won't be any play before 1.30pm. Even if it stopped raining now it could be three o'clock before we could start playing," Langford-Jones said.
He said if the weather prevented play today, organisers would look to reschedule the second round tomorrow, "and given we had good weather we'd look to play 36 holes on Sunday".
He acknowledged the inclement weather could see the championship reduced to 54 holes.
"If tomorrow's round cut into Sunday we'd probably then consider 54 holes.
"But everyone came here to play golf and our goal is to see 72 holes."
Overcast conditions greeted the field for the opening round yesterday when light drizzle sprinkled the course.
Three players shared the first-round lead, with American duo Darron Stiles and Matt Bettencourt and Canadian David Hearn setting the pace with six-under-par 66s.
- NZPA
