Open Round Is Fogged Out

The first round of the U.S. Women’s Open at Newport, R.I., was postponed Thursday because of fog that rolled in off the Atlantic Ocean and lingered over the Newport Country Club into the afternoon.

The tournament is scheduled for 18 holes today and Saturday and 36 holes on Sunday.

The par-71, 6,564-yard course -- the longest for a U.S. Women’s Open at sea level -- has no artificial irrigation system. Storms left 13 inches of rain on the grounds during the last six weeks, and 3 1/2 inches last weekend alone.

It was the first time since the 2003 Masters that the start of a major was postponed one day. The USGA could not remember that ever happening at the U.S. Women’s Open.

*

Harrison Frazar returned from a long layoff to grab a share of the first-round lead at the Buick Championship at Cromwell, Conn., shooting a season-best six-under-par 65 to join Heath Slocum, Peter Lonard and Scott Verplank atop the leaderboard.

Frazar, seeking his first PGA Tour victory, hadn’t played a tour round since withdrawing after the first round in Memphis, Tenn., last month. The birth of his third child nine days ago and family health problems kept him close to home. In that time, he played only a few rounds with his father and some buddies.

“Haven’t hardly hit more than a bucket of balls at a time, maybe total, in the five weeks,” Frazar said. “Just spent a lot of time with my family, trying to get everybody squared away.”

Memorial winner Carl Pettersson, Corey Pavin, Darron Stiles, Camilo Villegas, Todd Fischer and Ron Whittaker opened with 64s, and former Buick Championship winners Olin Browne and Brent Geiberger were in a 12-player group at 65.