Harrington aims to end jinx as rain stops play

Whether Padraig Harrington has jinxed himself by winning the Par-three contest prior to the 67th US Masters he will have to wait until today to begin to find out. The first round was washed out yesterday because of more rain, they will attempt to get the tournament under way early this morning.

Whenever it starts, it will finish, according to Will Nicholson, chairman of the competition committees. "We will complete 72 holes," he said before pausing for emphasis, "some time." This was the first time since 1939 that the first round has been postponed. The last time a day's play was washed out was on the Friday in 1983. That year was also the last time the tournament finished on a Monday.

With a good forecast for the weekend it may still be possible to finish the tournament on time. But whether the arrangements for today get as far as planned remains in the lap of the gods. The first round will start from two tees at 7.30am with the second round commencing from 1.30pm. Even if there is a full day's play the later starters will not be able to complete 36 holes.

Almost four inches of rain had fallen between Sunday evening and yesterday morning. The first round was delayed until 11am but shortly before that time, with more rain on the way, Nicholson cancelled play for the day.

"The course was playable yesterday but it was right on saturation point so I knew with the rain last night we might not get on," said Harrington. "They need 12 hours of drying time." His plan for the day was to do a little short game practice, go to the cinema and then have a long dinner.

Ernie Els was contemplating returning to the hot tub in his rented house. "Keeping your concentration going over a long day on this course is going to be the hardest thing," said the South African.

With balls certain to pick up mud on the fairways, Els said players would have to lay up at holes like 13 and 15 if they are more than 200 yards away. "One year I hit a ball with mud on it straight at the flag on the 10th and it ended up in a bush on the left."

Dealing with such incidents will be important, according to Harrington. "Golfers want everything to be just and fair but that's not golf," said the Irishman. "It is a mental test as well as a physical test and you have to handle situations like that."

Harrington was in sparkling form on Wednesday afternoon on the Par-three course when he hit birdies at the first four holes, chipping in at the second and holing a bunker shot at the fourth. He finished at six under and tied with David Toms, a former winner, but the victory was shared as the weather prevented a play-off.

No winner of the Par-three event has won the Masters in the same year, but that will not stop Harrington "trying my heart out". "Nothing would please me more than to end that tradition. Someone is going to break the jinx and, anyway, it is only half a jinx this year because we both won," he said.

Though the greens were draining well due to the club's "sub air" system, which sucks moisture from the putting surfaces, on many fairways it was impossible to find anywhere to take relief from casual water. The conditions were some of the worst Nicholson had seen. "Last Sunday the course could not have been better," he said. "I thought we were going to have the dry and firm conditions as the course was designed."

He would still not employ "lift, clean and place," rules, however. "There will be women here before that happens," said Chris DiMarco.