There is absolutely nothing in the world that is more guaranteed to bring out the stiff upper lips of golfers than a bit of serious adversity. As a breed, tournament professionals are world-class whingers, and they cheerfully admit it, but present them with wet fairways, soggy greens and teeing grounds that look more like the Somme than a part of a golf course, and they come into their element.
Take yesterday at Wentworth, for example. The four semi-finalists in the Cisco World Match Play Championship fretted and kicked their heels impotently in the clubhouse for hours but, when most reasonable men would have given anything for a pair of carpet slippers, a roaring fire and a glass of something to warm the inner man, they willingly and happily took to the West Course and showed that it would take more than a bit of rain to douse their competitive juices.
It was a triumph for optimism over reason that Colin Montgomerie, Vijay Singh, Lee Westwood and Ernie Els got out there at all. Chris Kennedy, the course superintendent at the Wentworth Club, and his men had to work like Trojans to get the course in a fit state for play; they deserve a medal.
In an ideal world it would have been preferable to have called play off for the day even when the rain stopped, but tournament executives had to bear in mind that this part of Surrey might not have seen the last of the rain in the next day and a half.
The decision to bring the two finalists back on Monday morning, although it will have spoilt the plans of more than a few people, was certainly the correct one. Four times in the past the final has been carried forward to Monday -- in 1978, 1980, 1987 and 1988 -- and each time, it happened for precisely the same reason as this time.
It is enshrined in the tradition of the tournament that matches are played over 36 holes -- anything less, and the Championship is diminished. It will never be just any old match play tournament, but the two-round format is part of what makes it special. Tradition should never be tampered with unless it is absolutely necessary.
None of the four potential finalists will be seriously hampered by having to play on Monday. Singh and Westwood are taking a rare week off, so an added 24 hours in Surrey would not put either of them out unduly.
Montgomerie and Els are both playing in the Alfred Dunhill Cup next week, but both have such intimate knowledge of the Old Course at St Andrews that their preparations for the tournament would be affected very little if they have to stay on. There is a first prize of £250,000 to play for at leafy Wentworth -- not a bad reward for one extra day's work.
The two matches, which will resume at 8am today, are fascinatingly poised. Singh, although three down against Montgomerie, made the fair point when darkness brought them in that, with a possible 23 holes still to be played, he was far from out of the match and would not be fretting overnight. Montgomerie, quietly delighted with his lead, said he had just been delighted to get onto the golf course at all.
Westwood will feel when he sets out again bright and early this morning that he has every chance of reaching his first World Match Play final. True, he is trailing, but only by one hole, but that might be wiped out inside ten minutes today. The tournament has produced some epic matches in its time; there is no reason to suppose that this one will be any different.
