Weather begins to affect the Barclays

EDISON, N.J. -- After an unexpected earthquake on Tuesday, mother nature is flexing her muscles again this week at the Barclays.

Play was suspended at 10:29 a.m. Thursday at Plainfield C.C. due to inclement weather, with rain pouring and lightning in the area keeping players off the course. With Hurricane Irene looming and set to hit the Northeast on Saturday and into Sunday, odds are not good that the first leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs will finish on time.

The golfers are well aware of the impending delay of the tournament this week, too.

"It will be interesting to see when we do actually finish," Nick Watney said Tuesday, "because I guess there are reports that it could be pretty brutal."

So far, the reports have been accurate.

Tournament officials were only anticipating an hour delay with the lightning storm, but play has now been suspended for an hour and a half, and the rain and lightning are both still here as of 12:20 p.m.

J.J. Henry (thru 12) and Adam Scott (thru 9) are currently tied for the lead at 5-under, with half the field not having teed off yet in the first round.

--Stephen Hennessey

Follow him on Twitter: @s_hennessey

UPDATE (1:00 p.m.): Tournament officials have announced that play will resume at 1:45 p.m., and the first afternoon wave of golfers (Chris Couch, Geoff Ogilvy, and Scott Piercy on No. 1, and Davis Love III, Stewart Cink and Ricky Barnes on No. 10), which was set to tee off at 12:00 p.m., will tee off at 2:45 p.m. The last group of golfers is scheduled to tee off at 4:35 p.m.