Dustin Johnson once again found himself with a slender one-shot lead after round two of The Open was finally brought to a close on one of the most frustrating days in the Championship's illustrious history.
Persistent and powerful gusts blighted Saturday's action at St Andrews, forcing a suspension in play at 7:32am local time after little more than half an hour of action - and then delaying play for a staggering 10 hours and 28 minutes.
During the lengthy stoppage, the R&A announced that the tournament will conclude on Monday for only the second time, Seve Ballesteros having secured his third Open title when the situation previously occurred in 1988 at Royal Lytham and St Annes.
And when the third-round action belatedly begins a day later than planned, Johnson will again be the man to catch - one clear of Danny Willett at 10 under after cancelling out a morning bogey at 14 with an evening birdie on the last.
A regular contender in recent majors, most notably when spurning the chance to defeat Jordan Spieth at last month's U.S. Open, Johnson has gone about his work in calm and controlled fashion this week and made light of Saturday's unusual schedule.
Paul Lawrie, Open champion a short drive up Scotland's east coast at Carnoustie 16 years ago - also held firm to remain eight under.
And a pack of six players a stroke further back includes Louis Oosthuizen, the man who lifted the Claret Jug at St Andrews in 2010, Jason Day and perennial Open challenger Adam Scott. The latter, like Willett, is presumably refreshed after an unexpected day of rest.
Spieth, who expressed unhappiness at being called into action amid the wild morning gusts, is still five behind Johnson and will surely need to make up ground on Sunday to sustain his bid for a third successive major.
Johnson led by one from Willett at the start of Saturday, but the American was among 42 players still to complete his second round following the previous day's rain delay. Willett, meanwhile, had signed for a 69 back on Friday afternoon.
Play began at 7am and Johnson bogeyed the par-five 14th to drop back to nine under after playing a poor chip and seeing his ball blow back off the front of the green.
However, he eventually got the shot back in somewhat friendlier conditions, taking advantage of the wind on this occasion to drive the par-four 18th and two-putt for birdie, with Spieth doing likewise to cancel out a bogey at the 17th.
A number of players were simply unable to putt at the start of the day as their balls blew around on the greens and play was duly suspended.
It soon became clear that there was no hope of a swift resumption and Oosthuizen showed tremendous composure to roll in a par putt at 13 some 10 and a half hours later - his ball having moved further away from the hole in the earlier gusts.
The South African remains very much in contention, one ahead of Hideki Matsuyama, who parred the last four holes on Saturday to complete a 66, Luke Donald, Retief Goosen and Irish amateur Paul Dunne. Sergio Garcia finished birdie, birdie to join Spieth and Justin Rose, among others, at five under.
At the other end of the field, Tiger Woods - Open champion here in 2000 and 2005 - missed the cut by a considerable distance. A 75 left him seven over for the tournament and is likely to prompt further doubts over whether he can ever rediscover major-winning form.
Bubba Watson and Ian Poulter also failed to make round three, along with the lesser-known Daniel Brooks, who did manage a hole-in-one at the 11th.