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The third round is suspended at Bethpage Black after a heavy rainstorm almost instantly flooded the saturated course.

12.10am - With every green and half the fairways under water, the USGA has bowed to the inevitable and told everyone to pack up and go home for the day.

Still, it's been a great day's golf; thanks for joining us, and we'll be back tomorrow lunchtime for the resumption of the third round.

12.05am - For what it's worth, Olly Wilson managed to pop that birdie putt in on the fourth before the hooter sounded.

11.57pm - PLAY HAS JUST BEEN SUSPENDED! The course must still have been utterly soaking, because almost within seconds of the rain really starting to come down several of the greens turned almost immediately into paddling pools.

The players are staying out there for the moment - but this could be the end of play for the day...

11.54pm - Everything is going a bit topsy-turvy. Graeme McDowell has just had a double bogey on 15, Tiger has just chipped to an inch from a tough spot on 10, Olly Wilson has played a brilliant bunker shot to set up a likely birdie on the fourth... plus Adam Scott has just recovered from that awful start by hitting to two feet for a birdie on the third.

And now the heavens have opened!!! The saturated greens have become totally flooded within the space of five minutes - quite literally - which shows just how high the water table was!!!!

11.49pm - Adam Scott has shown some long overdue signs of a return to form this week, but a double bogey and a bogey in his first two holes of round three are just what the doctor specifically did not order.

11.41pm - Cancel that assessment of Olly Wilson's start: he only went and missed his tiddler on the way back to turn an understandable four into a horrendous double bogey.

11.40pm - Wilson only gets his bunker shot to about 15 feet, and hit putt just misses on the high side. Still, a decent start.

Over on the 10th tee, some bloke named after a type of big cat is about to tee off... and the reaction from the crowd suggests that they think he's quite good.

11.36pm - Mickelson slices his opening tee shot into the rough - not that the spectators care, they bellow their lungs off with cheering and hollering, even as USGA officials frantically try to locate the ball in the deep, wet cabbage.

11.33pm - Here comes Wilson on the third hole... ooh, not a bad shot but he's under-clubbed a little and the ball comes up short. There'll be no birdie on this one - though on the other nine, McDowell has tapped in for his two on the 14th.

Back on the first tee, Stricker and Mickelson are preparing to start.

11.26pm - McIlroy is some golf machine: after drawing a near-unplayable lie in some dense vegetation on the 12th, he calmly slaps a fairway wood onto the green and rolls in the 35-footer for a par!

Then, just up ahead, his countryman Graeme McDowell has just hit his approach to two feet on the par -3 14th. It's all kicking off, and it's the Brits and Irish leading the way!

11.22pm - More good news for fans of Olly Wilson: the Mansfield man hits a sublime approach on the second that almost skips straight into the hole before spinning back to leave a four-footer. He's setting Bethpage alight at the moment....

So here he comes with the putt... AND IT'S STRAIGHT IN THE MIDDLE! Wilson is two under!

11.20pm - Soren Hansen takes aim and swings on the third... and next thing he knows, the ball falls softly to earth just 18 inches from the pin on the par-3!

11.14pm - England's Oliver Wilson has birdied the first to get himself to one under par for the tournament! Wilson has never even won a normal tournament - could he really start at a Major?

It doesn't seem very plausible, but it's been done before - Ben Curtis, we're looking at you - and there's no doubting Wilson's quality, even if he's earned a reputation for not even being able to finish his dinner following a string of near-misses on the European Tour.

11.09pm - Great start to round three for Graeme McDowell, with the Ulsterman rattling in a birdie on the par-4 12th to get himself back to level par for the tournament.

11.05pm - This is hilarious - the crowd have clearly had nothing to do over the last 90 minutes or so than to sit in the beer tents knocking back endless bottles of grog. From the amoung of yelling and cheering going on - at even the smallest provocation - you'd think this was the back nine on Sunday. Rory McIlroy just earned a massive cheer merely for performing the feat of spinning a ball back!

11pm - Looking down the list of pairings there are some fascinating groups: there's the aforementioned Kim and McIlroy, of course, but Geoff Ogivly is playing with England's Oliver Wilson, Steve Stricker playing with uber-lefty Phil Mickelson, and Adam Scott playing with his good friend Sergio Garcia.

Tiger Woods, incidentally, starts at 11.42pm UK time, playing alongside Argentinian rising star Andres Romero, who so nearly won the Open at Carnoustie in 2007.

10.56pm - No birdies to report as yet, though 2007 Amateur champ Drew Weaver has slotted two crazy putts in the space of two holes to rescue two unlikely pars - and sent the drunken crowd mad in the process.

10.46pm - There are some quite fabulously drunk spectators out and about on the course just now, as the rain starts tumbling down. Rory McIlroy is paired with Anthony Kim - a mouthwatering young gun combo if ever there was one - and the Ulsterman steps on to the tee to repeating cheers of "Ro-ry! Ro-ry! Ro-ry!"

They love him!

10.42pm - There's a bit of uncertainty about the weather : the promised Monsoon conditions never materialised earlier, but current forecasts suggest it's going to chuck it down with Biblical fury in about 20 minutes time. Rain is one thing, of course - but lightning is something else, and if there's any threat of electrical activity then the hooter will sound pretty swiftly.

10.39pm - McDowell looked in trouble there, but has played a truly beautiful bunker shot from a good 40 yards away that hops to a stop just three feet from the hole.

10.30pm - Graeme McDowell and Jim Furyk are the first pair off the 10th tee, and McDowell has just spanked a rescue club into one of the front right bunkers.

10.05pm - After a bit of a lengthy delay, the pairings have been released for the start of the third round - and play is due to get under way at 10.30pm UK time.

Graeme McDowell will be one of the first players off in a slightly baffling pattern that we'll put down to the two-tee start.

It's working like this: rather than the lowliest players going off first, the players bang in the middle of the field start first on both tees.

The worse half of the draw will then play from the tenth tee in order of their scores, while the better half of the field will play from the first tee in standard reverse score order, i.e. with best players last off.

That means that last players off will be leader Ricky Barnes and Lucas Glover from the first tee at 12.22am UK time, with Johan Edfors and Kevin Sutherland - who both made it by the skin of their teeth - starting from the 10th at the same time.

Phew! Hope that's clear.

9.15pm - Confirmation is in that we've got 60 players in the final two rounds. Pairings have yet to be announced, but the players will be in two-balls and playing off both tees.

With three or four hours light still left, they should be able to get everybody started by the end of the day - and the first guys off might even get all the way round before darkness falls.

So long as it doesn't start chucking it down, that is...

8.59pm - Murphy birdies the 17th to all-but-guarantee that there will be the minimum 60 players in the field for the final two rounds. The USGA will be getting players back out onto the course fairly soon now, and once again they'll be starting from both 1st and 10th tees to try to get everybody round.

8.42pm - An interesting bit of news as Johan Edfors pars his way in to finish on four over par, and Trevor Murphy birdies 16: that leaves exactly 60 players - the bare minimum - on the cut line... and opens up the possibility of the tournament finishing on Saturday after all.

Murphy could still slip down on the final two holes to let in all the players on five over par, of course: this could go either way.

8.38pm - Italy's Francesco Molinari had been going well earlier on, but never got any shots back after a couple of bogeys and has finished up one over par for the championship.

8.27pm - We're just going through the final few players out on the course at the moment, with just a handful of players till out there who can still have an effect on this championship.

After play has finished there will be a short break for greenkeepers to finish preparing the course for round three, and the next round will get under way at around 10.30pm UK time.

8.18pm - Westwood has a safe two-putt for par on the final hole to close out an absolutely brilliant round of 66 - one in which he missed no end of tiddlers that could have made it even better.

It's been a brilliant performance - and Westwood must now surely be one of the biggest threats to the leaders this weekend.

8.08pm - The cut line is currently at four over - but it'll only take a couple of missed putts from guys on the line to push it out to five over par, and give Luke Donald a reprieve.

7.58pm - Lee Westwood's comparatively mediocre shot to the par-3 8th hole seems to have stopped his run of likely-looking birdie chances - but the European stalwart only goes and holes a stunner all across the green!

GENIUS! Westy is two under par and right in the thick of it!!!!

7.57pm - Steve Stricker has parred his way home for a four-under 66.

7.54pm - Tiger Woods hits a miraculous recovery up the 18th from that rough, but can't quite find the green, and his chip leaves him too much to do. It's a bogey to finish off a 69 that leaves Tiger three over par... and it seems like too much to do for Tiger at this stage.

7.50pm - Geoff Ogilvy lips out with a five-foot birdie putt on the final hole to miss a chance to go under par for the tournament - but it's still a great 67 that gets him right back into this US Open.

7.40pm - Tiger has shoved his final drive of the day into knee-deep rough on the right of the ninth hole. Quick, Stevie, ready the machete iron!

7.34pm - Westwood's birdie put just breaks a bit too much, but it was a tough one - while up ahead on the 17th Geoff Ogilvy taps in a birdie putt from all of 18 inches on the 17th after the best tee shot of the week so far. Ogilvy now stands back at level par for the championship.

And moments later, Tiger Woods stands over a 10-footer for a three on the 8th hole... After interminable minutes stalking the putt he hits it... but it's overcooked and runs through the break . He could have really done with that one.

7.25pm - Yet another fabulous approach by Westwood on the sixth hole, and he'll have an eight-footer for his third birdie on the trot.

7.22pm - It's not often you have occasion to say something like ' Tiger Woods is a big jessie' but the world number one has just left his straightforward, 20ft uphill birdie putt short on the seventh.

He's hitting the ball brilliantly, but this round is more about Tiger growling than Tiger roaring.

7.20pm - Steve Stricker's charmed life in this second round has ground to a halt as he bogeys 16 to fall back to one under - but then he comes within millimetres of holing a bunker shot on 17. He's actually quite good at golf.

7.14pm - Graeme McDowell hits nice lag to the side of the hole on the 17th, while Luke Donald knocks in an eight-footer to rescue par after finding a greenside bunker on the 15th.

That putt was a gutsy one from Donald, just as important as the birdie on the hole before...

7.09pm - Westy is BACK IN THE GAME! That birdie has him pumped, and he hits an amazing approach to within three feet at the fifth.

Can Lee Westwood do it? Let us know what you think in the comments below...

7.07pm - Big slap on the back for American amateur Drew Weaver, who's just slammed in a monster putt on the ninth hole - his last of the round - to finish off a very classy 72 to follow his superb opening 69 in the worst of the weather.

7pm - It's Hallelujah time for Lee Westwood as a birdie putt finally finds the bottom of the cup! A four on the par-5 fourth gets him right back to level par for the tournament - that's two under for the day.

One more before he packs up for the day and he'll be not just back in it, but right in it. Because this is the US Open: it might look like the leaders will run away with it, but they'll slip back towards the field. They almost always do.

6.51pm - Great news for Luke Donald as a laser-guided tee shot on the par-3 14th gifts him a birdie putt that gets him back to four over par, and gives him a great chance of sticking around for the last two rounds.

Steve Stricker, meanwhile, becomes the only player out on the course to appear on the first page of the leaderboard after a birdie on 15th - yes, the 15th, the toughest hole on the US Tour!

6.49pm - Padraig Harrington has found sand on the fifth, but Tiger Woods and Angel Cabrera play shots straight over the pin ... but both miss their birdie putts.

6.40pm - Aussie Michael Sim had been going along nicely today, but a bogey on 16 has pegged him back.

There's a possibility that the players who make the cut might just get started later tonight in their third rounds - but unlike yesterday, the next round cannot start until every player has finished their second round. That'll slow things up a little, and means that we're still unlikely to see the tournament to a finish on Sunday.

6.36pm - Tiger hits a solid pitch approach to the par-5 fourth hole, leaving himself a seven-footer that dribbles tentatively but inexorably into the middle of the cup with its dying breath.

Playing partner Angel Cabrera makes a more impressive birdie, however, having hit the green in two with a crunching drive and four-iron.

6.28pm - Westy, Westy, Westy... what's going on? Lee Westwood just can't seem to buy a putt at the moment, as yet another excellent approach shot - this time an almost-holed wedge on the second - fails to yield a birdie.

He just seems a little tentative over his putts: a lot of them are fairly weak efforts that run out of pace while they're tracking towards the cup.

6.21pm - Hello Steve Stricker! The evergreen journeyman-cum-top-10-player has just slotted in a somewhat obscene 40-footer on the 605-yard 13th hole for his fourth birdie of the day, and he suddenly finds himself under par for the tournament .

6.16pm - Tiger totally mis-hits his par putt on the third, and that's undone one of those birdies. He deserved it, though: that was a crummy tee shot on the par-3 that missed the target by a good 35 yards.

6.11pm - Good news for Irish golfers, with Harrington playing a sublime bunker shot to three inches on the third and Graeme McDowell finally grabbing his first birdie of the round. That's G-Mac back to level par for the tournament, and he is right in this...

In the USGA's showcase group alongside Harrington, Masters champion Angel Cabrera runs his birdie putt just wide. The big-hitting Argentinian is still four over par for the championship.

6.01pm - Padraig Harrington's woes continue: he's scrambling like a good 'un, but he just isn't hitting the ball well this week. His run of amazing scrambled pars in the last few holes finally comes to an end on the second as he records the sort of adventurous bogey that would prompt a club golfer to pat themselves on the back for getting full value for their green fee .

Harrington's playing partner Tiger Woods sees his run of birdies halted, too, as his 25-footer on the same hole slips by the right edge.

Italy's Francesco Molinari is still up the highest on the leaderboard of the players out on the course at the moment, as he cruises nicely at two under for the day, one under for the tournament. Aussie Michael Sim is on the same number as he plays the 14th - but nobody else currently out there is under par .

5.53pm - 2006 champ Geoff Ogilvy was much fancied before the start of the week, but an opening 73 did him few favours. His second round is looking better now though, with a couple of front-nine birdies to get him back to one over... but he's just left his birdie putt on the 11th an agonising inch short.

Meanwhile, back on the 18th Lee Westwood looks to be getting back on track after those two bogeys with a lovely approach to 18 that gives him a chance of getting back to level for the tournament.

5.43pm - Another lasered tee-shot from Tiger on the second hole. This looks ominous for the field: straight drives, radar-guided iron shots and putts dropping.

5.40pm - It's another lovely drive from Tiger - he's been arrow-straight most of today - to leave himself a simple wedge to the green.

The great man sticks it to 10ft, and curls it in the middle of the cup!

That's Tiger back to two over par, with two birdies in as many holes... and the tougher of the two nines out of his way already in this second round.

5.23pm - Tiger faces a crucial birdie putt on 18. He's in desperate need of something to get himself going, and this 12-footer could be the one to reignite his hopes - and also our hopes of collecting on a hefty pre-tournament wager.

The great man lines up... AND ROLLS IT IN!!!!

Now that is EXACTLY what he needed to get things going. Come on, maestro, time to push on with one of your famous charges...

5.12pm - Lee Westwood has just bogeyed the 15th, which today is playing tougher than a 99p rump steak that's been cooked for an hour and a half.

With the likes of McDowell and Poulter taking more shots than a group of LA gangsters on a drive-by, European honour is currently being upheld by Italy's Francesco Molinari, who is two under after five holes of his second round to be one under for the tournament.

5pm - We've just been checking the weather radar, and though it's clearly not a day to put your washing out on the line it does look likely that the worst of the weather front will pass safely to the south of Long Island.

There's a miniature rain cloud over Ian Poulter's head now, though: Poults has just fluffed a tiddler to drop another shot, this time on the short 17th.

4.55pm - Graeme McDowell has just bogeyed the 8th to add to his bogey on the 6th - shame, he was doing so nicely earlier - just as Henrik Stenson misses a four-footer on the 8th for his third birdie of the day.

The cut, meanwhile, is currently predicted at four over par - which will like change hugely as the weather deteriorates, but as things stand would narrowly exclude Luke Donald and Padraig Harrington , though both have a chance to get back into things.

Several players look guaranteed to be heading home, however: Justin Rose and Paul Casey are both eight over, Darren Clarke is finished at 10 over, and Ernie Els is a shocking 15 over par.

4.45pm - The first drops of rain start to fall, but though satellite images suggest that it'll be persistent, it doesn't look like it'll be as bad as it was on Thursday. And thank goodness for that.

4.41pm - Tiger leaves his pitch short and draws a horrible thick lie by the edge of the green... and his second attempt isn't much better, as he's only able to flop it five feet short of the pin.

Woods could be in big trouble now - but his bogey putt drops dead centre to limit the damage. Harrington also drops a shot - but at the 15th, a bogey is only half a shot gone in all honesty.

4.34pm - Major errors for Woods and Harrington on the 14th as they both overshoot the green leaving an all-but-impossible escape shot.

It's a bit like chipping up the stairs and trying to land your ball on top of a marble football. Not easy.

4.28pm - Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood are the only players in the top-15 who didn't have the benefit of the good weather - but Poults has lost one there on the tough par-4 15th after being unable to reach the green in two.

4.24pm - Tiger is splitting fairways now, looking in awesome form - the same straight-hitting golf, in fact, that saw him win the Memorial a few weeks ago.

But Tiger's playing partner Padraig Harrington is looking in even better form now, after a birdie on the par-3 14th got him to two under par for the day.

4.14pm - The tournament is kicking off in fine style now, with Lee Westwood rolling in a truly absurd 40ft putt on the 12th for a birdie. The ball hits the hole at speed, spins all around the cup and topples in for his third three in a row!

Wouldn't it be great if the Workop wonder made up for his near miss last year by winning this US Open? It's all starting to get exciting now...

4.10pm - Tiger Woods hits a decent pitch to 12ft on the 13th - and RATTLES IN HIS BIRDIE!!! That's exactly what the world number one needs.

4pm - Lee Westwood, like Poulter and McDowell, put in a creditable showing in horrible conditions during his first round. He finished two over par - but back-to-back birdies at the start of his second round have brought him back to level par! Fabulous golf...

Tiger, meanwhile, is going along okay after three pars in his opening three holes. For our money, the field will come back to him a bit over the final 36 - but he needs a 66 today to at least get back to level.

3.56pm - Poulter is a funny one. For years he was all trousers and no mouth - but we have to admit that his fantastic, solid showing at Birkdale last summer really made us feel that this cocky-whatsit really could follow up his big talk and win a bloomin' Major! And why not a US Open?

3.52pm - British hopes Ian Poulter and Graeme McDowell played brilliantly in the worst of the weather on Thursday to stay right in things, and have just set out on their second rounds - and Poults has already enjoyed a birdie to join G-Mac on one under par.

3.40pm - Ricky Barnes seems happy with his work. "It feels good!" he says after coming in off the course. "I'm hitting a lot of fairways and a lot of greens... if I can keep it up the next two days I'll take that."

3.35pm - After his miracle escape on the 10th Padraig celebrates in perfect style by birdieing the 11th! That gets him just the right side of the projected cut on five over - though with bad weather coming in, the cut line could yet move several shots either way.

3.22pm - Harrington sinks his 15ft par putt! He was looking down the barrel of a double bogey after a terrible second from that horrendous bunker. What a recovery, and the reigning Open and US PGA champ stays six over!

3.10pm - The big man is out on the course! Tiger Woods has just teed off on the tenth, but with a 12-shot deficit to make up he seems well out of contention. Yet the course is yielding plenty of birdies....

3.15pm - It's a bad start for the struggling Padraig Harrington in his second round as he carves his opening tee shot into a bunker that's ringed by piles of tungly jungle grass - but Ireland's finest hits a stunning recovery! He could yet turn this into a par!

If we don't see fireworks from the world number one now, then we never will - but that said, there's more bad weather on its way...

3pm - Ian Poulter is about to tee off, alongside Justin Leonard and Robert Allenby for their second rounds, with Casey, Ogilvy and Furyk in the group ahead of them.

- Casey finished with a 75 to his name in the first round, while Poulter carded a 70, but who do you think will finish higher come Sunday/Monday?

2.50pm - Hunter Mahan and Englishman Oliver Wilson are nearing the turn in their second round, and both are level par down in tied-14th spot, with Mahan having gained two shots on Wilson today.

2.40pm - Ricky Barnes storms into the lead, and his momentum appears to be unabating! The American birdies the par-three eighth, and will be desperate to consolidate his place at the top of the leaderboard with a par at the ninth (his last after a 10th-tee start).

2.30pm - England's Ross Fisher storms into a share of seventh place with Taylor, O'Hair and Hamilton, finishing his second-round 68 with a birdie at the last! What do people think of the 28-year-old's prospects at Bethpage?

2:20pm - Mike Weir bogeys the 16th which represents a blemish to his second round, bringing him back level for the day, and his aberration on the 490-yard par four is compounded by the fact that he birdied it in his first round.

2.10pm - Lucas Glover is in the clubhouse with a second-round 64 to leave him in a joint lead with Canadian Mike Weir and fellow American Ricky Barnes, who are currently on holes 15 and six respectively.

2pm - Ricky Barnes birdies the fifth to move top of the leaderboard alongside Glover and Weir at seven-under par, while Taylor, O'Hair and Hamilton all drop shots.

1.50pm - There is a whole host of players now in tied-sixth place, with former Open champion Todd Hamilton, Sean O'Hair and Canadian Nick Taylor joining Duval and Scott, five shots off the lead.

1.40pm - Mike Weir moves level with Glover at the top of the leaderboard at seven-under par with a fine birdie on the 12th, and the Canadian and former Masters winner looks in fine fettle today.

1.30pm - Just to remind you that world number three Paul Casey is in a group with the widely-tipped pair, Geoff Ogilvy and Jim Furyk, who head out at 9:55 local time. Who would be your pick from that threesome?

1.25pm - Peter Hanson remains the man nobody is talking about in fourth place, and the Swede is level par for the day, currently on the part-three 14th.

1.20pm - Ricky Barnes moves from third place on the leaderboard, up to tied in second with Canadian Mike Weir, and has played superbly today - three under thus far - following a birdie at the 389-yard second, with a solid par at the third.

1.15pm - Glover is currently addressing his second shot on hole six - a 408 yard par four, and will be looking to sink another par putt after holing out well on the fifth for four. Do you think the 29-year-old American has what it takes to challenge into the final round?

1.10pm - Azuma Yano is three under for the day, and is now tied for fifth, where he is situated alongside David Duval and an ominously-placed Adam Scott. Could this be his year?

What do you think? Leave your comments down below as usual...

1pm - Good afternoon folks, and you join our live text coverage with Lucas Glover remaining out in front at Bethpage Black, at six under through 15, after starting on the back nine.

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