US Open golf resumes at soggy Bethpage course

Water-soaked Bethpage Black seized command of the world's greatest golfers on Friday morning as the 109th US Open resumed under overcast skies on the formidable course.

Torrential rains flooded the 7,426-yard layout on Thursday to wipe out the opening-day schedule after barely three hours, leaving world number one Tiger Woods among half the field that returned once the showers had relented.

But once Mother Nature had released her grip upon the field, Bethpage Black squeezed hard, it's treacherous rough and long holes made even more difficult under saturated conditions with balls taking on mud and gaining no extra roll.

Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell was the lone man under-par at one-under through 12 holes. After starting Thursday at the 10th and going one-over after eight holes, he birdied the par-3 17th and par-4 second to seize an early edge.

No one completed more than 11 holes Thursday, when bogeys outpaced birdies by nearly a 5-to-1 margin in miserable conditions.

A super group of reigning major champions featuring 2008 US Open winner Woods, British Open and PGA Championship king Padraig Harrington of Ireland and Masters champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina struggled through the elements.

Woods, seeking a 15th major title in quest of the record 18 won by Jack Nicklaus, sank a three-foot birdie putt on the 11th hole after an impressive approach from the fairway to stand at one-over par.

Woods, who won the 2002 US Open here, blasted out of a greenside bunker on the seventh hole with his last shot Thursday, leaving an eight-foot par putt for his return Friday that he rolled right of the cup for a bogey.

Cabrera took bogeys at seven and 10 Friday morning but birdied 11 to match Woods on one-over while Harrington continued to struggle with bogeys at seven and nine to stand six-over through 11 holes.

US veteran Justin Leonard, who had three birdies and three bogeys in seven holes Thursday, birdied the eighth and ninth to reach 2-under but the 1997 British Open champion promptly fell back to par with a double bogey at 10.

A 10 am Friday start awaited half the field of 156, including US star Phil Mickelson, Australia's Adam Scott, Spaniard Sergio Garcia and South Africans Ernie Els and Retief Goosen.

Mickelson, a four-time US Open runner-up who has never won the title, plays his last event before wife Amy undergoes breast cancer surgery in early July. He is a fan favorite among the usually vocal New York area crowds.

With forecasts calling for weekend thunderstorms and rain predicted Monday and Tuesday, tournament officials were looking at pushing the finish of 72 holes beyond the weekend for only the second time in tournament history.

"If the forecast we've got right now for Saturday and so on were absolutely accurate ... finishing on Sunday would be borderline impossible," said US Golf Association senior competition director Mike Davis.