Umbrellas were essential at a watery Augusta on Saturday

Barely half of the 47 players still in the tournament had started their third rounds when the bad weather intervened.

And when play resumed only 140 minutes were possible before the light faded.

This means the leaders will all have to finish their rounds on Sunday - from 1245 BST - with Chad Campbell facing 32 holes of golf on Sunday.

Campbell was two hours away from starting his third round when play was halted on Saturday.

But once the threat of lightning had passed, Augusta officials gave the go-ahead for play to resume at 1715 local time (2215 BST).

The bad weather was the remnant of a front that brought tornadoes and violent thunderstorms across the central United States on Saturday, killing at least 27 people.

It's definitely a lot of holes tomorrow and it makes for a long day, but I'm looking forward to it Chad Campbell Quotes of the day

This is the eighth Masters in nine years to be delayed by bad weather.

After three and a half hours of rain the players were told to prepare for a resumption.

Chad Campbell, the three-shot leader at the halfway stage, said: "I wish we had been able to get out on schedule, but it's just one of those things.

"It's definitely a lot of holes tomorrow and it makes for a long day, but I'm looking forward to it."

The third round will resume at 0745 (1245) on Sunday, meaning there is a risk of a Monday finish for the first time since 1983, when Spain's Seve Ballesteros won.

Other Monday finishes at Augusta were in 1973, 1961 and 1936.

The forecast for Sunday is good, and organisers could opt for a two-tee start and keeping the same pairings for both rounds in an attempt to finish on time.

Players had been on the course for two and a half hours when the sirens sounded at 1300 local time (1800 BST).

Officials initially expected the delay to last "approximately one hour".