The Ryder Cup is almost certain to be extended into a fourth day due to the torrential downpour that waterlogged the Twenty Ten course at Celtic Manor and suspended play at 9.45 this morning, two hours after Dustin Johnson began the 38th edition by slicing the opening drive.Only four hours of play can be made up on Sunday morning before the 12 singles matches start just after 11.30am. The first reassessment of conditions has been pushed back to 2pm, meaning that unless some of the games are won by large margins, which might allow the competition to catch up, the winners will be decided on Monday.
At the moment, Europe are 3-1 up. If the Cup cannot be finished in regulation time by the close of Sunday afternoon then play can go until sunset at 6.43pm on Monday. If it is still not completed by then, Colin Montgomerie and Corey Pavin, the Europe and USA team captains, have agreed that the result will be decided by the teams' standing at that point.
Montgomerie, a veteran of eight Ryder Cups, confessed there was widespread confusion. "It's a bizarre situation because nobody really knows, including ourselves, what's going on here. Nobody talks about the weather in Ryder Cups – only the result," he said. "Let's hope [at the end] we don't talk about the weather here in Wales."
Pavin said: "The biggest issue is the bunkers – how they're filling up with water. It [the rain] doesn't affect it [our strategy] but just pushes it back. I'm just trying to stay awake. It's kind of boring to wait for it to stop raining.
"Hopefully we can get the whole Ryder Cup [finished] and that's the ultimate goal – so we can get a proper result."
Martin Kaymer, who is partnering Lee Westwood, said: "The weather is not so nice now but I would have liked to play on – this is our weather. European weather. We haven't got a lot of sleep recently but we will sleep even less but that's OK. Hopefully we can finish by Sunday."
Luke Donald, who with Padraig Harrington trails Bubba Watson and Jeff Overton by two after two holes, said: "If it was an ordinary event we would not even have started. It's a shame but there is nothing we can do about it. Most of the fairways were all casual [under casual water] and if you had to drop it, it would be in the rough."
Westwood added: "It's most disappointing for everyone associated with Celtic Manor and the people of Wales."
