The third round of the rain-hit US Open came to an abrupt halt late on Saturday as another downpour made greens unplayable and sent players, officials and fans scurrying for cover.

At that stage, 16 of the 60 players who had survived the cut had yet to tee off, including surprise halfway leader Ricky Barnes at eight-under par, second-placed Lucas Glover and third-placed Mike Weir.

Defending champion Tiger Woods, a huge 11 strokes off the pace, did make it onto the course but managed to finish just one hole, the 10th, which he parred, before the heavens opened.

The extent of the task ahead of him was underlined by the fact that only once before in US Open history has a player won after trailing by 11 shots at the halfway stage and that was Lou Graham at Medinah, Illinois, in 1975.

Crowd favourite Phil Mickelson also completed just one hole, the first, which he similarly parred to stay in contention at one-under.

"I really hope we get it done tomorrow because we have a family holiday planned to start on Monday night and I really don't want to cut that short," he said in a TV interview from the course.

Mickelson was referring to a tropical vacation he is planning with wife Amy, who was diagnosed in May with breast cancer and who is to undergo surgery early next month.

Mickelson has said he will suspend his playing activity until further notice to be at her side and likely miss next month's British Open at Turnberry.

Tournament officials said they would resume play at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday and hope to squeeze in the final two rounds, but with more rain in the forecast and the terrain at Bethpage Black sodden after days of heavy rain, the prospects of finishing on time looked dim.

Barnes had grabbed the halfway lead in the morning by adding a 65 to his opening 67 for a US Open record 36-hole total of eight-under 132, one better than the mark set by Fiji's Vijay Singh and American Jim Furyk in 2003.

A former US amateur champion who has flopped so far in his professional career, he stood one shot clear of fellow unstoried American Glover and two ahead of 2003 Masters champion Weir.

Glover had a 64 to equal Weir's tournament-best effort set in the first round, while the Canadian had a 70.

"It's been humbling for me over the last four or five years and got me ready to play here," Barnes said.

"I've grown up. I've learned to be a bit more patient after switching teachers two years ago and its paid dividends."

Also high on the leaderboard after two rounds were top Asian challenger Azuma Yano of Japan at three under, five shots off the pace after a 65, alongside former world number one David Duval (70) and top European Peter Hanson of Sweden (71).

All of them posted their marks early in the day playing in the half of the draw that benefitted from the better conditions.

The unlucky other half of the field, including Woods, endured the worst of the wet weather on Thursday and then had been idle for most of Friday and Saturday morning, when the conditions improved markedly.

As it turned out, the wild weather that was forecast to greet when they went out for their second rounds on Saturday afternoon was not quite as bad as expected, but still the only player from that half of the draw to climb onto the leaderboard was England's Lee Westwood.

Last year's third-place finisher at Torrey Pines signed for a tremendous 66, taking him into a tie for seventh, six shots behind Barnes.

Among those heading home early were world number three Paul Casey of England, who was 10 over, reigning British Open and US PGA champion Padraig Harrington of Ireland, who was 12 over, and two-times former winner Ernie Els of South Africa, who was near the bottom of the pack at 15 over.

Third-round pairings were hastily compiled and the third round got underway in gloomy conditions from the first and 10th tees at 5:30 pm, but play lasted barely an hour and 20 minutes before the deluge came down.

Intitially the players were told to stay where they were on the course in the hope that the storm would pass quickly, but 20 minutes later, and with no respite in sight, play was suspended for the day.

Complicating the picture was the fact that even if all 72 holes are completed on Sunday, a tie would still take them into Monday as the US Open is the only one of the four majors that stipulates an 18-hole playoff.

AFP

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