ELMSFORD, N.Y. (June 18, 2009) — Creek Club head professional Sean Farren got off to a perfect start in the first round of the 109th U.S. Open Championship. He began his round on the first tee at 9:01 a.m. and parred the first three holes, hitting each fairway and each green in regulation. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t have a chance to keep the momentum going.

Play was suspended at 10:16 a.m. and called off for the day at 1:30 p.m., the result of more than 1.2 inches of rain (and counting) that has fallen at Bethpage Black since 5:00 a.m. this morning. Play is scheduled to resume at 7:30 a.m. on Friday, weather permitting.

“It actually wasn’t bad out there during my three holes,” said Farren, playing in his first U.S. Open. “But they [the officials] obviously knew this heavy rain was coming, because they stopped play at jus the right time.”

When Farren returns to Bethpage tomorrow, he’ll have a difficult situation to face. Just before play was suspended, he hit his drive on the par-five fourth hole into the tall fescue grass next to the left-hand cross bunker. He marked his position with a tee and was shuttled to the clubhouse. “It was pretty tall grass,” said Farren afterward. “Hopefully the rain will kind of flatten it out so I can pitch back to the fairway.”

Andrew Svoboda, who teed off on the 10th hole at 7:44 a.m., got off to a rougher start. He is 7 over par through six holes, and had two straight double bogeys at the par-three 14th and par-four 15th hole before play was suspended. He will look to right the ship tomorrow as he resumes play on the par-four 16th hole.

Connecticut native J.J. Henry had an afternoon tee time and was not able to start his round because of the weather delay. The USGA held a press conference in which Senior Director of Rules & Competitions Mike Davis said that today’s afternoon tee times will be pushed back until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, so look for Henry to tee off at about 10:25 from the first tee.

Weather conditions at Bethpage today started out ominous and got much worse around mid-morning. Only 14 players were able to complete nine or more holes, and the players in the afternoon wave of tee times were unable to begin their rounds. The USGA hopes to complete to have the entire first round completed by 4:00 p.m. on Friday and have players get as far as possible into their second rounds. If the weather is decent on Saturday – an iffy proposition with the current forecast – then the second round would then be completed on Saturday, with the field cut to the low 60 players and ties. The USGA would then attempt to play the third and fourth rounds on Sunday in order to finish on schedule late Sunday evening.