Rain washes out Friday's play

Heavy rain and thunderstorms continued to batter the BellSouth Classic on Friday, washing out first round play at the $5 million event for the second day in succession.

With rain also wiping out first round action on Thursday at the TPC at Sugarloaf in Duluth, Georgia, not a single ball has been struck at this week's PGA Tour stop.

More than five inches of rain has fallen since Sunday, flooding bunkers and turning the Sugarloaf course into a swampy quagmire.

Officials had hoped to send golfers off from the first and 10th tees starting at noon local time but now face the impossible task of completing play as scheduled on Sunday.

A further complication is that the year's first major, the U.S. Masters across the state in Augusta, begins next week.

"It's not out of the realm, no. Monday is in the mix. But our first obligation is try to get 72 holes in by Sunday, said PGA tournament director Slugger White when asked about the possibility of a Monday finish.

White said that if there was no play on Friday, organisers would attempt to play the first round on Saturday, hold the second round on Sunday and play 36 holes on Monday.

The delays have become a familiar scenario for the PGA Tour, which has now seen eight of 14 events this year disrupted by rain, including last week's Players Championships won by American veteran Fred Funk.

Golfers' frustrations are running high with the rain cutting into their Augusta preparations.

World number four Phil Mickelson in particular had hoped to use the BellSouth to fine-tune his game for the defence of the Masters title he claimed last year in a dramatic final round showdown with South Africa's Ernie Els.

Mickelson, the 2000 BellSouth winner, is the only member of the so-called "Fab Four" competing this week.

"World number one Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods and Els have all decided to prepare away from the PGA Tour.

"It wouldn't bother me if it did," said Mickelson, contemplating a Monday finish. "I think that this tournament should have the respect given to all of the others.

"If we have to get 72 holes, get it in on Monday. I love the way the Tour has been doing that and really making the commitment to getting 72 holes in, it would not bother me in the least.

"I'm scheduled to take Monday off, so if we were to play, it's not a big deal."

Luke Donald, runner-up to Funk at the Players Championship, withdrew from the waterlogged tournament on Thursday, citing a sore shoulder.

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