Plans made for possible Monday finish

Although the torrential rain and strong winds that have swept across the course are expected to clear over the next 48 hours, every precaution is being taken for golf's premier team event.

"We've looked at the contingencies and we've always had them to go into Monday if we had to," European Tour executive director George O'Grady told a news conference.

"We don't visit that at the moment at all. We have time up our sleeve when Sunday comes.

"We take one session of play at a time and we get through that. As much as we can fill the day's play, we'll play.

"We want to play if the course is playable and by that we mean balls stationary on the greens and not moving."

Dry, partially cloudy weather is forecast for the 12 singles matches on Sunday when the 36th Ryder Cup is scheduled to finish.

The last time the biennial competition was significantly interrupted by weather was at Valderrama, Spain in 1997 when heavy rain wiped out play on the first morning.

However that year's contest was completed on time.

O'Grady added that a decision would be taken before Friday's opening fourball matches on whether to allow players to lift, clean and replace their golf balls on the fairway.

"The fairways are immaculate at the moment but very, very wet," he said. "We are monitoring how much mud the ball picks up. It's only really mud we are talking about, not casual water.

"We resist the temptation of playing preferred lies as far as we possibly can but I think, if both teams, both captains, wish to do it, we would. I don't think it can demean the tournament."

U.S. captain Tom Lehman believes preferred lies may be necessary to enhance the quality of golf on offer for the fans.

"I think everybody would prefer to have a golf tournament where luck may not be quite as big a factor," he said.

"That mud on the ball thing can be disastrous, especially when it's this windy. I think in the spirit of the game we want to give everybody the fairest chance to hit good shots."