Clarke and McDowell made to wait

The 32 golfers, including at least two Europeans, due to be knocked out of the Accenture World Match Play Championship in California today have survived to fight another day.

The start of the £3.9million event has been delayed for 24 hours due to the saturated state of the La Costa course near San Diego.

It is the second year running that the event has had a total wash-out on one day.

Weather permitting, the second and third rounds will be staged on Friday to make up for the lost time. The forecast is good from this morning onwards, but last week's Los Angeles event was cut to 36 holes.

When the players arrived in San Diego 100 miles south, they found a course that seemed more like a giant lake.

Conditions have improved but, with more rain predicted overnight, officials took the decision to call a day off for players.

But the greenkeeping staff must try to get the holes playable for tomorrow.

The 64-man field includes 15 Europeans, but Irish pair Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell face each other and Sergio Garcia is playing Alex Cejka, so two must lose.