Spectators were advised to delay their arrival for the second day of the Open Championship after heavy rain overnight left standing water on parts of Royal Lytham & St Annes.
Play began at 6:30am as scheduled but after seven hours of rain dropped 11mm of water on the course there are pockets of casual water.
A message on Opengolf.com stated that the course, and car parks, are drying out but spectators will have a better experience if they can turn up later if possible.
The overnight rain has given way to morning sunshine, with the weather forecast predicting the risk of showers gradually becoming less frequent during the day with sunny spells developing and it may be completely dry for the rest of the day with light variable winds up to 5mph.
"We've had far more rain overnight than we were expecting, unfortunately," R&A chief executive Peter Dawson told BBC Radio Five Live.
"There's been 11mm or so but the course can take it as the drainage here is good. There is some standing water but we can play golf and the Rules of Golf will deal with the casual water.
"The spectator conditions are not so good but we are working hard. We are told it will be dry for the rest of the day but, if anyone was thinking about delaying their arrival, that would be good."
Australia's Brendan Jones initially made light of the conditions with a birdie two on the first - Lytham is the only course of the Open rota to begin with a par three - to improve to two under par, but then dropped four shots in the next four holes.
Challenge Tour member Scott Pinckney, a boyhood friend of Rory McIlroy, began his first Open with a fine two under par 68, but was finding the game a lot tougher on day two as he ran up a triple bogey on the third in the second group out.
South African Richard Sterne, a five-time European Tour champion, was another player to birdie the first to take his score to two under par.
Overnight leader Adam Scott, who carded a record-equalling 64 on Thursday, was among the later starters, with Belgium's Nicolas Colsaerts likely to be the first player to challenge the Australian's position at the top of the leaderboard.
Colsaerts was one shot off the lead after an opening 65 and was due out shortly before 9am.
England's Paul Casey was pleased with an opening 72 as he tries to rediscover top form following a lengthy shoulder injury, and the 34 year old had more reasons to be cheerful this morning.
After saving par from a greenside bunker on the first, Casey holed from ten feet for birdie on the second and then chipped in for par on the third after hacking his third shot from heavy rough over the green.
That kept him one under for the day and one over for the tournament, but represented welcome signs of improvement after coming into the championship a collective 47 over par on The European Tour this season.
Colsaerts saved par on the first with an excellent chip after coming up well short of the green, but was not able to repeat the trick at the next two holes and dropped back to three under.
Rory McIlroy, who recorded an opening 67 despite a double bogey on the 15th when his drive bounced off a spectator's head and went out of bounds, was also three under after two opening pars.
The former US Open Champion was lucky that a wayward drive on the second stopped just short of the really thick rough, allowing him to pitch out short of the green and get up and down.
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