GOLF/Irish Open Championship: The quest is still alive. Darren Clarke's first action when he wades into the heavy rough to the right of the ninth fairway on the Montgomerie Course at Carton House for today's resumption of the Nissan Irish Open will be to replace his ball.

He will then set about protecting the two-stroke lead he had so impressively established yesterday before the final round of the €2.2 million tournament was suspended due to a waterlogged course.

Although the tournament organisers had tried to pre-empt an anticipated weather front by starting play early, there still wasn't enough time to complete the round. The final group - consisting of Thomas Bjorn, Paul Casey and Anthony Wall - had only reached the eighth green when a decision was made to suspend play, initially in the hope that the weather would clear.

But when no break in the front materialised, and today's forecast predicted only occasional showers and the prospect of completing the round, a decision was made to extend play into a fifth day rather than reduce the tournament to 54 holes. The move to extend was strongly influenced by Nissan Ireland's executive chairman, Gerard O'Toole, when consulted on the options.

David Probyn, the tournament director, broke the news to competitors in the player's lounge in mid-afternoon, and though the pronouncement was met with one or two shakes of the head, the majority of players said "good decision" in return.

To be sure, Clarke, who had planned to spend the day fishing on the River Test in Surrey with his father, Godfrey, was especially glad to reschedule flights and accommodation.

One of his final actions of Saturday's third round was to miss an 18-inch tap-in for birdie as his gaze was distracted across the River Rye to the giant television screen showing Munster's European Cup win. That miss meant he started yesterday's final round a shot adrift of the leading trio.

By the time the heavy and insistent rain forced play to be suspended, Clarke, who had birdied the first and the eighth holes to get to six under par, had claimed the undisputed lead.

However, just minutes before the klaxon to suspend play sounded, he blocked his drive on the ninth into heavy rough and he will restart with a difficult task to save par.

"My grip slipped on nine and that's why I am in the rough when we restart," said Clarke, "but that was my own fault as I had plenty of towels to dry my clubs and I didn't dry it properly."

Given that some consideration was given to abandoning yesterday's play and reducing the tournament to 54 holes, with the three overnight leaders in a play-off, Clarke was more than happy to take the lesser of two evils.

Indeed, given the way Clarke manfully overcame the elements, and was one of only three players on the course (Niclas Fasth and Francesco Molinari were the others) to be under par on their rounds, it was fitting the decision should sway in his favour towards extending the tournament.

As Probyn observed, "It's a question of majority over minority", stressing the point that most players had completed the majority of the final round and that approximately three hours play would be required to finish the tournament as a 72-hole event.

PGA European Tour chief referee Andy McFee explained the preference to finish the Irish Open over four rounds.

"It goes to the very credibility of your sport, that's absolutely key," he said. "Sometimes it would be just plain wrong to go back to the 54-hole mark because so much of the final round has been completed. It's a sensible decision to take that 72 holes is the benchmark of professional golf and, if you convert the tournament back to 54 holes, that is in the record books forever and a day."

In a tournament troubled by weather on every day apart from Saturday, including a six-hour suspension in play on Thursday due to high winds, the greenstaff at Carton House have performed miracles to make the course playable.

"The past week has been like working in the engine room of the Titanic," said resort superintendent John Plummer. "It's a tribute to the workforce that the greens remained playable despite the heavy, insistent rain, but when it became difficult for players to find relief from casual water on the fairways play was suspended."

The decision to extend into today was made easier because the travelling logistics of players moving on to this week's BMW Championship at Wentworth, outside London, were relatively straightforward, while the forecast for today was good enough to expect to be able to finish the tournament.

Play is scheduled to start at 9.15am, and admission is free. However, the public car parks will be closed, and alternative parking will be available on the Leixlip-Maynooth road.

Clarke's first shot on resuming his final round will be out of thick rough on the ninth, but he starts with that two-shot advantage over Ross Fisher, Peter Hedblom and Casey as he attempts to become the first home winner of the Irish Open since John O'Leary in 1982.