Ryder Cup will resume after stoppage; tournament to end a day late

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The opening rounds of the Ryder Cup, hit by a deluge of rain, were to resume at 5 p.m. local time (9 a.m. Pacific) with little chance of any of the four-ball teams finishing in the remaining 1 ½ hours of daylight.

It was the first time in 13 years of the event that play had been suspended. The Twenty Ten course at Celtic Manor Resort was soaking wet and greens were covered with puddles. Friday’s delay made it likely that this 38th Ryder Cup would end a day late, on Monday.

The driving rain forced the stoppage at 9:45 a.m., two hours after play had begun. The last stoppage of Ryder Cup play was in Spain at Valderarrama in 1997.

Four groups of competitors were on the course at the time of stoppage, and Europe was leading in three of the matches.

Lee Westwood and his partner, Martin Kaymer, led Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, two up through five holes. The other European leaders were Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell over Stewart Cink and Matt Kuchar, one up through four holes, and Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher over Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker, one up through three.

The lone U.S. lead was held by the final group out, Ryder Cup rookies Jeff Overton and Bubba Watson, over Padraig Harrington and Luke Donald, two up after two holes.

The likely extra day of play Monday was agreed to by captains Colin Montgomerie of Europe and Corey Pavin of the U.S., with the additional agreement that, were play not finished by 6:43 p.m. local time on Monday, whichever team was ahead at that point would be declared the winner.

-- Bill Dwyre reporting from Newport, Wales