by Allan Kelly

FARMINGDALE, NEW YORK - US Open golfers were braced for another battering from the weather on Saturday with Tiger Woods set to go out in the worst of it.

The 109th edition of the tournament on Long Island, 48 km east of Manhattan, has been beset by heavy rain all week and when the hooter went for darkness Friday evening half the field had yet to tee off in the second round.

That included defending champion Woods, who completed a disappointing first round of 74 on Friday morning, 10 strokes off the pace set by Canada's Mike Weir whose six-under 64 was the best score at a US Open in six years.

Weir, the 2003 Masters champion, was unable to stretch that advantage when he went out in the second round and in fact he shed two strokes to finish the day at four under for the tournament through nine holes.

Leading the way was 29-year-old American Lucas Glover, whose only PGA Tour win came in 2003. He was five under through 13 holes in the second round and six under for the tournament.

Former US Amateur champion Ricky Barnes was a stroke further back after nine holes with Sweden's Peter Hanson level with Weir on four under. Crowd favourite Phil Mickelson was also well in the hunt at one under through 11 holes.

The task before them as play resumed Saturday was to bag as many birdies as they could in the pleasant morning playing conditions and then sit back and watch the other half of the field cope with the heavy rain and thunderstorms that were forecast to roll in from the west from midday.

'I think we got the good end of the tee times,' said Mickelson who is seeking his first US Open title after finishing runner up a record four times.

'I think that I am striking the ball well but I just need to make a few putts and if that happens I think I'll have a good chance at the weekend.'

Weir agreed with Mickelson on the conditions, calling it 'huge.'

'That's just the way it works out sometimes ' our side of the draw had a big advantage,' he said.

Complicating the picture, however, was the near certainty that the atrocious weather heading the way of Bethpage Black later in the day would mean that it would fall further behind schedule with the cut not being possible until Sunday.

That would leave them having to play more than 36 holes in one day to finish on time or make just the second 72-hole Monday finish in US Open history a reality.