The field of 144 players woke to rain-sodden fairways and bunkers following more than 15mm of rain.

PGA and WGC officials delayed making a decision until noon yesterday, before Mr Scott made the decision to reduce the tournament to 54 holes. A high water table because of heavy rain in recent weeks meant the course drainage systems were unable to satisfactorily handle yesterday's conditions.

"In the main, a golf tournament is suspended because the greens are usually the things that go under water," Mr Scott said.

"The greens are fantastic, but unfortunately with the heavy rains here in recent weeks, it's had an impact on the fairways here. The rain has meant in some cases we couldn't find anywhere for players to take relief from casual water. When a player has got to drop a ball 50m from where it lay to take relief, then it's starting to impact on the integrity of the game."

WGC grounds people worked to drain the course prior to the PGA decision, but Mr Scott said play would not be possible until at least 3pm yesterday. With the field yet to tee off, he opted to reduce the tournament to three rounds, rather than to attempt to catch up and complete two full rounds today.

The cut will be made after tomorrow's play, with the top 50 to continue in the final round on Sunday. "We put a decision off as long as we could, but we've got a field of 144 this week and there's always a flow-on effect," he said.

"It's a little bit different if you suspend it during the course of a round, but no-one has teed up.

"It's a decision we hate to make and we do not do it particularly often."

The delayed start allowed defending champion Steven Bowditch to rest his broken hand, suffered a fortnight ago in the United States.

The 28-year-old, who holds a conditional US Tour card, said reducing the tournament to 54 holes would not change his approach.

"It's a bit disappointing, everyone was looking forward to getting out there," Bowditch said.