Unrelenting rain in Shanghai forced the abandonment of the second day’s play in the US $5 million HSBC Champions at the Sheshan International Golf Club on Friday.

Play is now scheduled to begin at 6.45am on Saturday morning, local time.

The second round of play was due to start at 8.40am on the first tee and 8.45am on the tenth tee but heavy rain caused had flooding on several of the fairways. Officials first postponed the start to 10.45, then 12.30, then one final effort was made to get play under way at 2.30 in the afternoon.

England’s Richard Finch cuts a lonely figure on the driving range in the rain, preparing for an early Friday start that never happened.

At lunchtime things were looking a little brighter. The rain had stopped and the weather seemed to be drying out. But it proved to be a false dawn – the rain started again and tournament officials had no choice but to call play off at 2pm, local time.

"Our prime objective and our current intention is to complete 72 holes in the HSBC Champions. Round two is scheduled to start at 6.45am and our plan will be to put the players straight back out for the third round without a redraw," said David Probyn, Tournament Director of the HSBC Champions.

The fourth and final round will then be redrawn immediately when the third round of play concludes at approximately 8.45am on Sunday morning

"Clearly if we have any further delays to this schedule, there is a strong possibility that play in the fourth round may need to be completed on Monday morning and this has been provisionally agreed with all parties within the tournament," added Probyn.

For first group Richard Finch of England, China’s Zhang Lianwei, and KJ Choi of Korea, it all made for a frustrating day. Out on the range preparing for a tee-off at 8.45 this morning, they had to hang on till play was finally abandoned at 2.00. Now they face a bleak prospect tomorrow – they will have to be on the range by 6.00 am at latest to be ready for a 6.45 tee-off time, but with the rain still falling in Shanghai on Friday night there is no guarantee that play will start any time before noon.

Some compensation for ticketholders from today. Their 500 RMB entries will now be valid for Saturday – originally priced at 1000 RMB – always assuming that any play takes place.

(China.org.cn by David Ferguson November 8, 2008)