Lee Westwood got off to a hot start in Texas on Thursday before howling winds brought the Shell Houston Open to halt for the day with only half the field having started.
Play was halted in bright sunshine at 12.50pm local time at Redstone Golf Club as winds of up to 45 miles per hour caused havoc on the closely-shaved fast greens and the Tournament Course was deemed unplayable by PGA Tour officials.
At 4pm they then officially postponed for the day after a wind advisory was issued for the area until 7pm local time in Houston.
During play earlier in the day, golfers had seen their golf balls blown from their position on the greens.
"We just couldn't conduct the competition so we had to call it," PGA Tour vice president of rules Mark Russell said.
The first round was not set to resume until Friday morning with 72 players still to tee off in an event many are using as a final tune-up before next week's Masters tournament.
England's Westwood will begin the day with a two-shot lead over the field at a par-72, 7,457-yard course that has been set up to imitate conditions at Augusta National.
Redstone, though, had the added challenge of high winds and exposed greens but Westwood was more than a match for the task as he went into the early lead at four under after nine holes of his opening round.
"It's a bit early in the tournament to be doing interviews," Westwood told the PGA Tour Network , "but I'll take it anytime, leading the tournament.
"It's just unfortunate we've had to stop playing today because it's such beautiful weather."
The Ryder Cup star birdied the first, second and seventh holes before sinking a 45-foot putt for a birdie two at the ninth.
He added: "I hit lots of good shots over the nine holes. Four under and it could probably have been a couple better than that but I'm please to be four under par, especially in those conditions and I'm looking forward to just hopefully carrying it on for the rest of the week."
Westwood was about to putt for birdie from 17 feet at the par-four 10th when the hooter sounded to halt play.
"We were given the option of putting out while it was unplayable or coming back in the morning when maybe the wind will have dropped and the greens have been cut.
"Even I'm clever enough to go with the second option."
Westwood's birdie on the ninth gave him a two-stroke lead over eight players at two under including including Americans JB Holmes and Justin Leonard and Korea's Charlie Wi.
Fellow Englishman Greg Owen had been among that group before a bogey five at the 11th sent him a further shot back alongside six players including veteran American and University of Houston graduate Fred Couples, the 49-year-old US 2009 Presidents Cup captain having played seven holes starting on the back nine.
Australia's Greg Norman, Couples' rival captain for this year's matches against the Rest of the World at Harding Park in San Francisco this autumn, was level par after eight holes as he prepares for his first Masters tournament since 2002.
At even par after seven holes was Ireland's Padraig Harrington, who had birdied his second and third holes having started at the 10th tee, only to bogey his sixth and seventh.
Sweden's Daniel Chopra was also at even after six, while Alex Cejka of Germany was one over after nine with Luke Donald of England and Fredrik Jacobsen of Sweden both two over having played 10 and 11 holes respectively.
Also struggling in the windy conditions was world number two Phil Mickelson, playing for the first time since winning the WGC-CA Championship at Doral two weeks ago. The left-handed American was three over after eight holes alongside fellow major winner Angel Cabrera of Argentina.
Spain's Alvaro Quiros was having a terrible time as he sunk to nine over par after 12 holes thanks to two double-bogeys and five bogeys.
His compatriot Sergio Garcia was among the players who will have to wait until Friday to get their tournament under way following a day that had already been delayed more than two hours due to heavy rain.
Northern Ireland teenager Rory McIlory, his compatriot Darren Clarke, Colombia's Camilo Villegas, Swedish duo Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson and England's Paul Casey and Justin Rose were also among those who failed to get going.
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