Ryder Cup organisers will run the tournament to Monday if necessary should the unforgiving and inconsiderate Irish weather that caused havoc at the K Club this morning continue through the week.
"We have the best forecasting there is but it's not an exact science," explained George O'Grady, executive director of the European Tour referring to the gale-force winds which battered the venue.
"We've looked at the contingencies and we've always had them go into Monday if we had to but we are not considering that at the moment."
"We still have time on our hands and I think today was a one-off," added O'Grady, who suggested if tomorrow is also something of a washout the event would still start proper on Friday as planned.
"I think the practice session (Thursday) would have to go by the bye. That said, these guys are all top professionals, they know the course by this stage."
On the question of the course becoming too wet and the necessity to play the Ryder Cup using preferred lies, O'Grady confirmed that decision would be made by the chief referee.
"The preferred lie situation would be finally decided by our chief referee, Andy McFee, but in this case it would be totally in agreement with the two captains. Remember though, the course is still in immaculate condition but still very wet. We'll resist playing preferred lies for as long as we possibly can."
On the decision to close the K Club for almost three hours this morning, Ryder Cup director Richard Hills said safety had to come first. Some 5000 spectators were eventually allowed through at 10am.
"When we arrived on site this morning, winds were in excess of 40mph. After reviewing with our health and safety consultants and the principal contractors on site, we deemed (7am) that the site was unsafe at that time until further checks could be carried out to ensure player and spectator safety," said Hills.
"In daylight we were able to check all the structures (grandstands, corporate hospitality, tented village) and playing areas were safe...a number of trees had come down during the night in the gales and one of those was on the 18th," he added.
Superintendent Kevin Donoghue tried to answer some of the problems surrounding travel and access to and from the K Club. Firstly, he was hit with questions of why it was taking so long to get from the park and ride facilities to the venue.
"We can't blame the police organisation for road works and public roads that are 30 or 40 miles away from the course," he said.
"You're coming into a major city at a key time of the morning and unfortunately there's always going to be traffic build up. Everything possible has been done to minimise the delay but the sheer volume just mitigates against free movement on the roads."
As for the golf, the European team managed to tee-off in blustery conditions at 11.15am. They played the back nine in foursomes format.
The Americans eventually set off on the front nine at 2pm. But that's a loose description of how they played because rather than tee off in three groups of four, as expected, all 12 bypassed the first tee and made their way up the first fairway.
There all 12 dropped balls and pitched to the green from 100yards out. They repeated this over the front nine and played a shoot-out style format when they got to the par threes.
• Spectators travelling to the K Club from the south park-and-ride facility at Palmerstown House, Johnstown, Co. Kildare are to be redirected to Punchestown racecourse from tomorrow.
Atrocious conditions by persistent bad weather have necessitated this decision in order to facilitate the spectators journey to the venue.
Ryder Cup LLP acknowledges that the journey time from Punchestown to the K Club may take up to 30 minutes longer but the hardcore parking available at the racecourse will provide a safer option.
