Duel against the elements

HAVEN, WIS. - It's hard to tell who has the tougher job trying to figure out Whistling Straits: professional golfers or meteorologists.

Call it a tossup.

One day after the course was soaked by nearly two inches of rain, a pea-soup fog right out of a Stephen King novel enveloped Herb Kohler's slice o' Ireland on Thursday morning, causing the start of the 92nd PGA Championship to be delayed 3 hours, 10 minutes.

Then there were the periods of scorching sun and sauna-like humidity -- quite unlike the sub-60-degree temperatures that greeted golfers in the first round of the 2004 PGA Championship at the Straits.

But if it's hard to predict the weather here, it's equally hard to predict the leaderboard.

"There's a lot of different flavor up there," said Jason Day, who is two scoops of Australian with a swirl of Texas. "I think [the course] brings in a lot of different games, too.

"Obviously, it's playing long, so you'll see a bunch of long hitters up there on the leaderboard, but you've still got to have a really good short game around here."

Matt Kuchar and Ernie Els (14 holes played) and Nick Watney (11) also were at 4 under.

The players who didn't finish will return to the course to resume the first round at 7 a.m. Friday, weather permitting. The second round will begin at 8:30 a.m., 90 minutes later than originally scheduled.

"Hopefully, the fog won't get us tomorrow morning," said Wisconsin native Steve Stricker, who is 1 under through 13 holes. "It could happen again. Hopefully, we can get out there and the weather will be good."

Watson, 31, a free spirit from Bagdad, Fla., who never has had a golf lesson and is one of the biggest hitters in the game, earned his first PGA Tour victory at the Travelers Championship in June. In eight previous PGA Championship rounds, he never had posted a score better than 73.

Molinari, 27, has won one tournament on the European Tour. He finished ninth at the Players Championship in May and tied for 10th in his PGA Championship debut last year.

Kuchar and Watney both had eagles in their rounds, Kuchar on the par-4 13th and Watney on the par-5 11th, his last hole before play was suspended.

"I really enjoy this course," Kuchar said. "It's fun to play and I have a good time out there.

"I used to look at a lot of golf books and I would try to guess from the picture where the hole was before I read the caption. And this place threw me every time. I'd say, 'Man, that's cool. That's got to be somewhere in Ireland.' I was anxious to get here and play and I'm having a good time."