Saturday is traditionally moving day in any golf tournament but the exception this week is the 144th Open Championship.

There has only been 32 minutes of golf today and it’s still the second round of golf’s oldest Major.

First there had been a 3 hour and 14 minute delay on Friday morning due to heavy rain and then when play restarted at 7am this morning balls began being blown off the greens so much so that 32 minutes later play was again suspended.

Firstly, with no prospect of play until at least 4pm local time, organisers had no option but to take the 144th Open into a fifth day for the first time since 1988, when Seve Ballesteros won his third Claret Jug after a rain-affected event at Royal Lytham and St. Annes.

That was then changed to 5pm and then put back 30 minutes to 5.30pm.

“When we considered every possibility we felt the best conclusion was to accept a Monday finish gives us the best answer,” said R&A Director of Rules and Equipment standards, David Rickman much earlier today.

“Playing two-tee starts here is not easy. We did it last year (on the Saturday at Royal Liverpool, to avoid incoming weather) but we felt those were exceptional circumstances.

“Our preferences were to maintain the tradition of a one-tee start. When we started to do the maths, the Monday finish was the best answer.

“In a strange way it is maybe a relief to have taken the decision to go to a Monday.

“It gives us a degree of control and clarity – even if that gives everyone a series of consequential challenges.

“We could do (36 holes) but we would be looking at two-tee starts and have to put those arrangements in place overnight.

“We would be playing morning till night, finishing in the dark – which in some ways worked last night with Tom Watson – but it would mean having the Champion golfer of the Year trophy presented in near-darkness after a long and difficult day.

“We are comfortable this is the right decision for the championship.”

Before preparations for the final two days – a cut still has to be made – can begin, the remaining 39 players have to complete their rounds.

That is still dependent on the winds, which were gusting at 45mph on Saturday morning and moving balls on the green which forced the postponement, but Rickman remains optimistic they will get back on track.

“Four o’clock is our best-case scenario, but before we go out and try to start at four we need to see a meaningful reduction in wind speeds,” he told ESPN.

“We know it is coming but if it is not in place I will make a decision an hour before and we could push it back. We could go at five o’clock, six o’clock.

“My greatest sympathy is with the players and spectators who have had to be patient on a frustrating day.

“Depending on the cut we will look to finish at our traditional times, with possibly a slightly earlier finish on Monday.

“It will be a traditional last two days for the Open, albeit a day later than planned.”

* Copy thanks to www.sportinglife.com