Golf: The Scottish Open has been cut to 54 holes for the first time in its history after torrential rain prevented any play before 7.30pm at the earliest at Castle Stuart on Saturday. Half the 156-strong field were unable to complete their second rounds on Friday and conditions were so bad overnight that the public were denied entrance to the flooded car parks.
Even if play was able to resume in mid-afternoon no crowd was going to be allowed on five holes - the first, second, 10th, 11th and 12th down by the Moray Firth - because of the state of the walkways.
The best case scenario now was for the second round to be completed today and then the third round to be played in its entirety tomorrow.
But it is still possible the event, which moved north from Loch Lomond this year, could spill into Monday if the third round cannot quite be completed tomorrow night.
Officials were understandably being cautious about spectator access after two fans suffered broken legs during Friday's action.
Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell and Scots Peter Whiteford and Scott Jamieson were the overnight leaders on 11 under par, all three of them having finished their second rounds in bright sunshine by yesterday lunchtime.
Among those affected by the stoppages were Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, involved in another battle for the world number one spot and both seven under with nine and seven holes to play respectively, and Colin Montgomerie, still in with a chance of claiming the one Open Championship spot up for grabs.
The shortening of the tournament was bad news for Montgomerie, though. On six under with nine to play and with a tricky chip coming up from beside the 10th green he was in joint 25th place and needed to climb into the top five just to have a chance to playing next week.
"They are having a big, big laugh - I would be if I was one of them," he said, refering to the golfing gods.
"I needed 72 and now I know there's no Monday qualifier for The Open we should be playing (here) Monday."
However, tournament director Mike Stewart stated: "We realised we were going to struggle with the weather today and the forecast is also poor for tomorrow.
"We just thought it was in the best interests of everyone concerned to reduce it to 54 holes."
As he spoke the greenkeeping staff remained hard at work trying to make the course playable and the conditions for spectators safe.
Two fans suffered broken legs on Friday and because of a landslide during one of the overnight storms it was decided not to allow the crowd to watch on five of the holes down by the Moray Firth.
"I have been up in this area for a long time," added Montgomerie, "and we have courtesy car drivers who are 65 years old and haven't seen the like of this before.
"None of us has. It's very, very unfortunate for everyone concerned. A landslide - this land's been here for ever and it's never happened.
"This is extreme, incredible, just freak conditions, end of the world stuff."
With possible start times being pushed back almost hourly from 2pm to 7pm eight players had seen enough, deciding to retire from the event with little or no hope of surviving the cut in any case.
"It's unfortunate for us. The course will be very different - longer, softer and the balls will gather mud," stated last year's Ryder Cup captain, whose week at Celtic Manor last October did spill into a full day's play on Monday because of rain.
"I've been 21 years without a break at The Open. It's a proud record and I don't want that record to break, but I'm running out of time now, especially with only a three-round event."
For European Tour rookie Jamieson, on the other hand, it was good news. As well as boosting his hopes of a first victory on the circuit because he had only 18 more holes to play rather than 36, he too is not exempt for The Open yet.
