Published>Thu, Sep 30 10 12:19 AM
Celtic Manor's Ryder Cup layout was given a thorough soaking on Wednesday and with more Atlantic fronts on the way over the next few days players, fans - and the course drainage - will be tested to the full.
Thousands of brightly coloured golf umbrellas sprouted across the scenic Usk Valley as mud-splattered fans braved dismal morning conditions to watch the second day of practice.
The paved walkways that wind their way around the course enabled spectators to negotiate the course in relative comfort but there were some furrowed brows among the players.
Long rough has become even more penal now that it is saturated and the greens, while remaining playable despite the deluge, will become much slower than players would expect, particularly the Americans used to fast PGA conditions.
"I think hopefully if the weather is similar to today, I think the Europeans could have an advantage," Europe debutant Ross Fisher told reporters after drying out on Wednesday.
"A lot of the Americans don't really play too much golf in the rain. I don't think the American guys have seen rough quite like it around the greens and when it's wet, it's pretty tough to control your ball and get it close to the pin."
Showers are forecast on Thursday with heavy rain predicted for Friday's opening fourballs and foursomes and again for Sunday's singles.
However, the Twenty Ten course was designed especially for the Ryder Cup and the drainage system is equal to anywhere in the world, according to Celtic Manor's director of golf courses Jim McKenzie who is confident his 120 staff are up to the task.
"We've spent a lot of money and a lot of time and effort over the last three years on drainage," he told Reuters.
"We've got great drainage on the fairways. We've top-dressed fairways heavily with sand. Indeed we've built the nine new holes with sand incorporated into the top soil.
"In 2009 during the Wales Open we had three inches of rain in a 26-hour period which finished at six o-clock on the last day on the Sunday and with the combination of the drainage, a bit of good luck, a two-tee start, we managed to complete all 72 holes within 25 minutes of the scheduled finishing time.
"There were golf courses closed that day from the Midlands all the way down to Cornwall but we managed to play the event. We have no real major concerns. We are preparing for rain, and anything else is a bonus."
The one thing that does keep McKenzie awake at night is the fog that can roll of the surrounding hills and which delayed the action on Tuesday morning.
"The one thing I do worry about is fog. There's nothing much we can do about that," he said.
American stalwart Jim Furyk joked on Wednesday that the rough was so deep they could lose some buggies in it, let alone balls, but McKenzie insisted it was fair.
"We used 20,000 pounds worth of fertiliser in the summer to regulate the rough because at the Wales Open there was a criticism that it was inconsistent," he said.
"I think the course is now playing the way the architect intended it to be."
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