Weather/Organisers present warm front: Already the pessimists in the media centre were setting odds for being stationed in The K Club until next Monday as the rain spilled down like stair rods yesterday morning and afternoon.

As small flotillas of water birds gathered and were faced with the à la carte choice of river, lake, fairway, bunker, green or pathway for their daily chores, the mood was considerably more upbeat with the organisers and greenkeepers. Monday is too early in Ryder Cup week for an anxiety attack.

While there is a contingency plan in place to extend the tournament for an extra day in the event of prolonged unplayable conditions, that scenario has not been considered so early in the week.

Dropping and placing the ball is also a possibility if the rain continues to bedevil the competition but again, organisers will only deliberate on that approach on the day of the match and after consultation between the two captains, Europe's Ian Woosnam and America's Tom Lehman.

Shortening the course was also mooted but on the Monday of a Friday start, that too is, at this point, out of mind. The par five 16th was shortened over a year ago to turn it into a classic risk, reward hole but yesterday Ryder Cup organisers were loath to even consider such drama.

"There will be no decisions in that regard until Thursday night, regardless of how good or bad the weather is," said an official. End of discussion.

Course superintendent Gerry Byrne also remained stoic and largely unconcerned.

"The greens are only slightly flooded and the fairways too. No, I wouldn't cancel golf today," he said.

"We probably got just short of an inch of rain over two hours. It was certainly hammering down okay but I would only bring them (golfers) in if there was lightning."

However, that optimism did not arrest the general, more doleful speculation. If today is torrential, then what is tomorrow, forecast to be the worst day of the week, going to be like?

The wet is certain to test the course drainage system, that in the early days was problematic but now is the effective herring bone design. As small chains of puddles begat larger ones on the 10th fairway and on many of the greens yesterday, the organisers were also putting on a brave face as to what effect it might have on the potential 45,000 fans, who will begin arriving here today as the first practice sessions for both teams begin.

"There has been a lot of rain," said PGA official Edward Kitson. "It is an outdoor event and that is something that we cannot control. Obviously if it lashes rain, the spectators will have to try and keep to the drier areas. We just have to wait and see. Lightning is when it becomes dangerous. If it is wet out on the course then we would hope people take the commonsense approach."

With regard to the condition of the Palmer course, there was little to rattle Byrne, whose staff of 83 for this week's play were out early tending the grass before the monsoon downpours hit the north Kildare area. By yesterday morning at 10.30am, his team did not have to worry about cutting anything until 6.30am this morning.

"You would need that sort of heavy rain for four to five hours, or, maybe if it rained for 12 hours the night before . . . then you would think of closing the course," said Byrne. "But we were very fortunate today and we knew the rain was coming so every inch of the golf course, fairways, greens, everything was cut and bunkers raked before 10.30 this morning. Now we don't have to get out there for another 20 hours. The real difficulty will come on Wednesday when it's expected to be worse."