A Monday finish awaits at US Open

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Third-round play at the sopping wet and twice-interrupted U.S. Open resumed Sunday, with no chance of a champion being crowned by day's end.

It will be the first 72-hole Monday finish at the U.S. Open in 26 years.

Weather permitting, the USGA wants the final round to begin late Sunday afternoon. More rain is forecast, but meteorologists have suggested to the USGA that it may be little more than a drizzle.

"Actually, the forecast for the afternoon is relatively good," Mike Davis, the USGA's senior director of rules and competition, said Sunday morning. "We could get some light showers late today, but they're not thinking thunderstorms and they're not really thinking anything heavy, either. So if that's the case, we will play as long as we can."

Play was stopped Saturday evening because of rain, and another eight-tenths of an inch hit Bethpage Black overnight. Ordinarily, that's not much, but Bethpage has gotten doused so often in recent days and weeks that one brief downpour was enough to render the course unplayable.

Ricky Barnes was leading with a record 36-hole score of 8-under 132. He was among the 16 golfers who never started their third rounds on Saturday, meaning he could have a very long day ahead of him.

"I got a really good night's rest," Barnes said.

He got up early and was leaving for Bethpage around 6 a.m. Sunday, when he got the text message saying play — which was originally set to resume at 7:30 a.m. — was pushed back to noon. The third round re-started 6 minutes ahead of the USGA's revised schedule.

Most players started to arrive around 10 a.m. Defending champion Tiger Woods, who started play in a tie for 34th and 11 shots off the lead, walked through the gate at 10:19 and headed directly to the still-wet practice green, a steely look on his face as he passed a couple hundred fans who politely clapped for the world's No. 1 player.

Q-rating matters in New York. Soren Hansen, who was tied for 17th, arrived a minute earlier; not a peep came from the crowd waiting for Woods.

Monday's schedule calls for play to begin somewhere between 7:30 and 9 a.m. If an 18-hole playoff is required, the USGA will hold that on Monday as well, provided it can begin before 4 p.m., Davis said.

Only 3 hours, 16 minutes of golf was played on Thursday because of rain, and the backlog has been copious since.