Tourney's opening round lost in the fog

NEWPORT, R.I. -- Michelle Wie stood on the balcony of the stately clubhouse at Newport Country Club, which ordinarily offers a spectacular view on a century-old golf course that juts into the Atlantic Ocean.

Thursday afternoon, she was lucky to see 180 yards away to the fifth green.

The U.S. Women's Open dodged the rain, but ran into weather that left the players feeling even more hopeless -- a soupy fog that limited visibility to 75 yards along the ocean holes and wiped out the first round.

It was the first time since the 2003 Masters that the start of a major was postponed one day. The USGA could not remember that ever happening at the U.S. Women's Open, or any of its championships.

"It's unusual to get fog where you're delayed or you can't play all day long," said Mike Davis, senior director of rules and competition.

The first round was rescheduled for today, followed by the second round Saturday. Davis said there would be a 36-hole Sunday, the first time that's happened at the U.S. Women's Open since 1990 at Atlanta Athletic Club, where Betsy King overcame an 11-shot deficit early on the last day to beat Patty Sheehan.

Wie and former Women's Open champions Juli Inkster and Meg Mallon were among those who were supposed to tee off Thursday morning, and instead spent nearly 10 hours at Newport waiting to tee off.

"It just got worse and worse," Wie said. "I just took this day to relax; I just chilled."

The 16-year-old from Hawaii, who once said nap time was her favorite part of kindergarten, said she dozed off for 30 minutes at one point but "I was scared I might fall asleep and miss my tee time."

Play originally was suspended 30 minutes, and then announcements followed about every half-hour. The practice range was packed with players anticipating a 3 p.m. start when word spread that the first round was called off.

"There's been a reversal," Meg Mallon called out to the other players. "The late groups go early tomorrow."

She was joking, but only barely. Mallon woke up at 5 a.m. Thursday to get ready for her 7:22 a.m. tee time. She was headed back to her hotel in the afternoon so she could do it all over again.

"I would rather have finished today so I could have a full day of rest," she said. "But there's nothing we can do. I'm just thankful I didn't have to play in a driving rain if that's what was supposed to follow the fog."

Davis said rain was in the forecast Thursday night, although "we haven't been right to this point." Newport already is saturated from 13 inches of rain over the last six weeks, and a half-dozen holes were made shorter for the first round to account for a 6,564-yard course that would play even longer in soft, windy conditions.

The only length that came into play Thursday was waiting around.

Wendy Ward was in the first group to tee off at 7 a.m., and as she returned to the range in the afternoon, she said to no one in particular, "This is the third time I've hit balls today. I usually don't do that in a week."