ARDMORE, Pa. — Wicker baskets were supposed to be the iconic item of the 113th U.S. Open, but golf umbrellas are making a strong play for being the tournament's new symbol.

Continuing the theme of rotten weather luck, play at Merion Golf Club was suspended for a second time on Thursday evening when a second system of showers moved into the area. The horns signaling a delay blew around 6:15 p.m., driving the tournament's afternoon threesomes — who teed off 3 1/2 hours late because of the morning weather interruption — from the course. Officials did not immediately cancel the day's play and kept golfers near the course in an attempt to get some more golf in before sunset.

But with so much golf still left to be played, Friday is scheduled to be a busy day at Merion. Thursday's afternoon golfers will have to complete their first rounds and then immediately play their second 18. Meanwhile, Thursday's morning golfers will have to wait until well into the afternoon to get their second round in.

Larry Brown SportsThe amount of preparation that goes into setting a golf course up for a major championship is nothing short of incredible. The USGA spends years building a golf course to their liking, making sure everything is ready for just four days of golf from the best in the world.

Last summer I got the chance to play Chambers Bay, site of the 2015 U.S. Open, and some of the greens were being redone and moved around because the USGA asked them to (three years before the U.S. Open bombards that public course in Washington).

This week is Merion, and NBC noted on Thursday that members were asked starting in October to hit every golf shot from the fairway off a mat, one that Dan Hicks is holding in the above picture. Caddies would carry it around and members would put their ball on the mat, helping to keep the course in perfect condition and avoiding a ton of divots for this week.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened, but it does say a lot about the USGA's commitment to

We all knew that Merion Golf Club has some special ways of punishing golfers. It isn't the length or the water or even the greens, but the rough at this year's U.S. Open is high and nasty and is punishing golfers through the first round of this major championship.

Brandt Snedeker, as you see here, could barely advance his ball out of the rough, and Keegan Bradley hit a shot that basically went backwards during his first round.

Tiger Woods started his bid for a 15th major late on Thursday after a rain delay and found rough so high off the first tee that you couldn't even see his shoes, forcing him to hack a wedge out from rough so dense it caused him to shake his wrist in pain.

While Merion is giving up some good scores, like that beautiful 67 by Phil Mickelson, it is punishing some of the best in the world. Bradley and Bill Haas, a major winner and FedEx Cup champion, respectively, both shot rounds of 77, and names like Louis Oosthuizen, Snedeker and Matt Kuchar are all well over par to

Phil Mickelson, lovin' life. (Getty Images)

It's been a good 24 hours for Phil Mickelson. He watched his daughter graduate from 8th grade, hopped on a plane, arrived in Philadelphia about 90 minutes ahead of his tee time, and proceeded to shoot a round that leaves him the clubhouse leader on the first day of the U.S. Open.

Mickelson bogeyed the first hole he played, the 11th, but that was the only blemish on his three-under round of 67. He birdied the 13th, first, seventh and ninth holes. Check out his impressive putt on No. 1 here:

The U.S. Open doesn't generally reward Mickelson's high-risk, high-reward style, a major reason why he's finished second a record five times and hasn't won this event yet. But on this day, with Merion effectively realigned because of the weather, Mickelson took advantage.

"The golf course is playing easy, and yet Merion is fighting hard," Mickelson said after his round. "It's so demanding. It's one of the best tracks I've seen for a U.S. Open."

It's Mickelson's best opening round in years at a U.S.

(Getty Images)

ARDMORE, Pa. — Golf fans who delight in the shortcomings of Sergio Garcia didn't have to wait long at the U.S. Open. The Spanish golfer, who has recently occupied headlines for a meltdown at The Players Championship last month and then an ensuing squabble with Tiger Woods, had a tough start to Thursday's first round with a double bogey and quadruple bogey on the 14th and 15th holes, respectively, at Merion Golf Club.

Garcia started his round on the 11th hole, a 375-yard, par-4 setup that he bogeyed. A birdie on the layup par-3 13th hole brought him back to even, but a double bogey on 14 set up this nightmare drive into the crowd on 15. He'd finish the hole with a quadruple bogey:

It hasn't been the best of years for Rory Sabbatini. The six-time winner on the PGA Tour has missed seven of 15 cuts, but carded just his second top-10 of the season last week at the FedEx St. Jude Classic and came to Merion with high hopes.

Three bogeys over his first six holes didn't do much to make him smile, and on the 7th hole on Thursday at the U.S. Open, Sabbatini had it out with his golf glove.

Now before you go trying this with one of your old, dried out gloves, remember, PGA Tour pros use only the finest of materials to put between them and the grips. While expensive, the gloves are fragile, making it easier to rip apart and look tough.

— Rory Mcilroy (@McIlroyRory) June 12, 2013

ARDMORE, Pa. — Yo! ... Caroline?

Rory McIlroy did his best Sylvester Stallone impression on Wednesday night, climbing the 72 stone steps outside the Philadelphia Art Museum and then tweeting a picture to his followers on Twitter. The Irish golfer and 2011 U.S. Open champion said earlier in the week that he was thinking of doing some sightseeing as a means to unwind before the start of this year's U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club, which is located about 30 miles outside the city.

"I was half thinking of going to the steps in the city, the Rocky Steps. Wherever they are and going to run up those," McIlroy said on Tuesday. "Just because we are where we are."

You'll notice that McIlroy is wearing a Philadelphia Phillies cap in the picture, a fact that may win him a few more fans on the course this weekend. However, if he was

(Getty Images)

UPDATE (11:14 a.m. ET): The rains have stopped and the USGA just announced that play is scheduled to resume at 12:10 p.m. Afternoon pairings will be delayed three hours and 34 minutes from their original starting times, which means Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott will not tee off until 4:48. Weather permitting, of course.

ARDMORE, Pa. — The golfers who held Thursday's early tee times at U.S. Open likely hoped to complete as many holes as possible before the approaching bad weather arrived.

Mother Nature, however, was not on their side. The first round of the tournament at Merion Golf Club was suspended at 8:36 a.m. ET in anticipation of a storm system that barreled its way through the Midwest on Wednesday and made its way into Pennsylvania over night. The warning horns drove fans from the already packed grandstands and big rumbles of thunder were heard overhead roughly 15 minutes later. A steady and driving rain began around 9:05 a.m and showed no signs of letting up.