GOLF: Loch Lomond, at 24 miles long and five miles wide, is the largest body of fresh water in Scotland and there is, of course, a reason for that. It rains a lot in this part of Scotland.
The area is, in fact, the fifth wettest in the country in a normal year and this year has excelled itself. The loch is overflowing and those bits of the bonny, bonny banks that can be seen are more boggy, boggy.
The consequence is that play, which starts today in the Barclays Scottish Open on the course abutting the loch, will almost certainly be severely affected.
Colin Montgomerie, a former winner over the Tom Weiskopf-designed course, even suggested that the tournament might have to be called off. "If the fairways are completely saturated and there is casual water all around then obviously the course becomes unplayable and we have to stop until such time as it dries out.
"But have we four days to wait? This is as wet a course as we will ever play - and let's hope we do play. I don't know if it can dry out in four days, so do we make the most of it or do we not play at all?"
Part of the problem is that next week is not any old week, it is the week of the Open championship at Muirfield and the last thing the players want is some sort of stop-start-stop tournament that drags on until Monday.
But that is what they may well get. John Paramor, the European Tour's chief referee, has checked the forecast and says it is "not great". He is preparing for the probability of preferred lies being played.
But the more obvious problem will be water swelling over the ankles of the players and creating similar problems to that experienced in the Solheim Cup on the course two years ago. It was, in essence, unplayable and a regular 72-hole event could not have been completed.
They had to halt play for the day at 3.30 on the Saturday afternoon and make up the time the following day. That was only able to be accommodated because it was a matchplay format.
Ernie Els, Michael Campbell Jose-Maria Olazabal and Tom Lehman are included in one of the strongest fields of the season for the £2.2m Stg event in which Retief Goosen, the winner of the European Order of Merit last season and the current leader, will be defending his title.
With Padraig Harrington taking a break after his efforts at the K Club last week, Darren Clarke spearheads the Irish challenge and will be joined by Michael Hoey, Paul McGinley and Ronan Rafferty.
Fifteen Open places are up for grabs, eight from the tournament and seven from a mini-Order of Merit which has been running since the end of May. Among those trying to avoid the Open qualifying tournament on Sunday and Monday are Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance, 1995 Open runner-up Costantino Rocca and last season's Rookie of the Year Paul Casey.
