(Sports Network) - What a mess.

Not since the Book of Genesis have we seen this much rain. No one was building an ark at Bethpage Black, but Ian Poulter was looking for his canoe.

An Englishman goofing on the rain. Where are we?

This U.S. Open was supposed to be about the monstrous Black course that chewed up and spit out the world's best golfers in 2002, leaving only Tiger Woods under par.

It was supposed to be about Phil Mickelson playing in front of the New York fans whose devotion confounds even him, the ones who showed up with even more reason to cheer their favorite player after Amy Mickelson's breast cancer diagnosis.

It was Tiger and Phil and the toughest test in golf -- and boy has it all gone to biblical heck.

A championship that began with a daylong deluge on Thursday was still groaning to make up ground Sunday when the third round was pushed back until the afternoon because of more rain, the first weather-affected Monday finish in 25 years looming for the second major of the season.

The leaders still had 36 holes to play.

Indeed, it's looking likely that this U.S. Open will be defined by the rain -- remembered more for squeegees, water hogs and umbrellas than for its birdies, pars and bogeys.

Woods is 11 back, Mickelson seven. Ricky Barnes is your record-setting U.S. Open leader, and so we talk about the rain and all it's done to change the face of this championship.

Spotting a player on the course has become a test to remember the colors on his umbrella.

And walking the saturated muni has devolved into an exercise in patience. Too fast down that slick hill and you'll be riding the rest of the way on your posterior.

If you're very lucky, there won't be a TV camera there to film it.

Nobody likes muddy shoes, so one man here Saturday decided they weren't an option. He walked barefoot next to a woman wearing plastic bags over her sneakers.

She had the right idea, too. One member of the media who walked the course Thursday with Woods' group still had wet shoes on Sunday. He learned the hard way that everything here needs protection from the rain.

And boy has there been plenty of it.

Two inches fell Thursday, suspending play after only three hours and beginning the four-day-long wait-and-see that has become the weather forecast. The skies cleared Friday, giving way to sunshine and a 13-hour race to make birdies.

Oh, if it could have lasted.

Although the course didn't get as much rain Saturday as was forecasted -- they made it to the beginning of the third round before a downpour suspended play -- it rained steadily overnight, dumping more water on the course.

There is a 40 percent chance for more rain Monday and Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service, whose forecast for Farmingdale doesn't include the word "sunny" until next Saturday.

This championship won't go on that long, but it will become only the third U.S. Open pushed to a Monday finish because of weather issues, following the 1983 Open at Oakmont and the 1959 Open at Winged Foot.

If it even ends there.

Before Mickelson teed off early Saturday evening to begin his third round -- ahead of the downpour -- a fan called out from behind Lefty that he had tickets for Wednesday.

The gallery laughed. But it's no joke.

The nightmare scenario now seems to be a tie for the lead after four rounds, which, under USGA rules for the Open, requires an 18-hole playoff -- in case you missed Woods' 19-hole win over Rocco Mediate last year, it can go even longer than that.

That type of scenario would likely push the tournament into Tuesday.

As of mid Sunday morning, the players were still awaiting the resumption of the third round, where they will line up two-by-two, hoping for a respite from the rain.

Sound familiar?



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