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The USGA were forced to suspend play on the first day of the US Open at Bethpage Black after heavy rain flooded the course.

Though early indications from the weather forecasters suggested that some play might be possible later in the afternoon, the rain only got heavier throughout the day as many parts of the course ended up completely under water.

And just before 7pm UK time the USGA made the decision to give up on the day's play. Play will resume on Friday morning at 12.30pm UK time.

Around three hours of play were possible before the klaxon sounded to bring proceedings to a halt, and even during that early action progress was slow as maintenance crews were frantically squeegeeing the greens in between groups to try and keep the course open.

Soaked spectators braved the conditions to watch several of the eye-catching early groups - including one made up of Tiger Woods, Padraig Harrington and Angel Cabrera - navigate the 7,426-yard par-70 course, but rain swamped holes so badly that one green had a flagpole in the center of a pond.

But the rain became too much just after 3pm UK time, as greens turned into ponds and fairways into rivers.

"The greens have become saturated, and we can't squeegee the water off quick enough," said Jim Hyler, the USGA championship committee chairman, after the decision was made.

"We're not sure how it's going to play out but we'll try and get as much golf played as we can."

When plays resumes is unclear, since the rain is expected to last throughout the tournament and worsen into thunderstorms this weekend - and it already seems inevitable that the first two rounds will take more than two days to complete.

"If we lose half a day today it would be impossible to catch up tomorrow," added Hyler.

"We may be looking at Saturday morning to get the second round finished, get the cut and go from there."

Toby Keel / AFP