DULUTH, Ga. - Phil Mickelson and the rest of the field at the BellSouth Classic had to wait an extra day to tee off. No biggie, though. Everyone's getting used to playing the waiting game.

The rainy weather that has plagued the PGA tour this season struck again Thursday, washing out the opening round. So far this season, eight of 14 tournaments have been affected by the weather, including last week's Players Championship, which was delayed by storms five times and didn't finish until Monday.

"What a surprise. We've had such great weather all year," Mickelson said.

Mickelson is using the BellSouth as a tuneup before heading to Augusta National next week to defend his Masters title, the first major of his career. But heavy rains fell for about nine hours before ending just before 1 p.m., rendering the TPC at Sugarloaf course unplayable.

Thunderstorms were forecast for today, which could delay the start of the tournament further. The weather is expected to clear up Saturday.

"The delays obviously take a lot out of you, but the way things are going this year we're pretty darned used to them," defending champion Zach Johnson said.

PGA official Slugger White said the same thing could happen at this tournament that happened at The Players Championship - namely, a Monday finish.

"A lot is going to depend on what happens tomorrow," he said.

If all goes well, the first round would be today, the second on Saturday and the field would play 36 holes Sunday to finish the tournament on time, White said.

"Monday is in the mix. But our first obligation is to try to get in 72 holes by Sunday," he said. "If we can't play tomorrow, we'll have the first round on Saturday, the second on Sunday and play 36 holes on Monday."

Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, the top three players in the world, passed on this tournament to focus on the Masters.

The BellSouth field also includes Retief Goosen, Stewart Cink, Stuart Appleby and Chris DiMarco.

Divots:

Luke Donald, who finished second to Fred Funk at The Players Championship, withdrew Thursday because of a sore shoulder.