AUBURN - Ugh.

There were no more appropriate words than that to describe the collective feelings of Maine State Golf Association and Fox Ridge Golf Club officials on Tuesday.

For the second time in five summers, rain - and plenty of it - forced the the MSGA to postpone the Maine Open Championship, though this time, it's only for a day.

"The course was unplayable," MSGA Tournament Director Romeo Laberge said.

A quick look around the grounds told the story: Sand traps filled with small lakes, fairways pock-marked with puddles, and cart paths washed away.

The good news - for the MSGA, for Fox Ridge and for local golf fans - is that the tournament will not be shortened, just delayed. The tournament will now run Wednesday through Friday.

"Fox Ridge offered Friday to us," Laberge said. "They didn't have anything going on. Once they said that, that sealed the deal."

In 2004, with the tournament scheduled to end on a Friday already, Riverside Golf Course in Portland couldn't accommodate the tournament on Saturday, and the event was shortened. Shawn Warren, then an amateur and now one of the favorite pros in the field, won a four-hole playoff in the rain that year to earn the victory.

According to the National Weather Service, the forecast for the next three days looks promising, too.

Meanwhile, the Fox Ridge grounds crew will continue to work through Wednesday morning to prepare the course for the three day tournament.

Tee times for Wednesday's Round 1 and Thursday's Round 2 will remain as originally scheduled, and Friday's final round will still cut the field to the low 30 and ties.