Due to the incessant rain which hindered the opening day of the Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open, tournament director Mike Stewart was left with no option but to revert to a 36 hole finish on Sunday.
Stewart confirmed that the halfway cut would be made on Saturday with the top 50 and ties instead of the normal 70 making it to the final day.
"The forecast we had for today was fairly optimistic but as the day progressed it became less and less so and the break we expected after 10a.m. never materialised," said Stewart.
He has experience of such unfortunate circumstances having directed this year’s French Open when rain dictated another 36 hole Sunday finish.
"Our prime concern was the fairways which could take two or three hours to dry out and it was not realistic to keep the players on until that time.
"It's a real shame for everybody but there is a better forecast for tomorrow and hopefully we can play 18 tomorrow and 18 on Saturday and then the final 36 on Sunday."
The poor weather also left a headache for the tournament chairman Andy Stanton who welcomes the Ryder Cup bid committee to make their inspection of the course for the 2009 bid tomorrow.
"It's obviously very disappointing but we can't control the weather and if anyone can we'd like to meet them," said Stanton who hopes the committee will disregard the bad weather.
"It's a big day tomorrow to make our presentation. The plan is to take them up in a helicopter and show them the rough layout for the new holes that will mean we have a change in elevation on the course of 29m rather than 110m currently."
Additional reporting by PA