Live notes: First round of the BMW Championship

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OK, this sign was actually posted for the Welsh National PGA Championship in Cardiff, but it seems appropriate for Bellerive too.

The BMW Championship is the third stage of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, and PGATOUR.COM's crew is on the scene in St. Louis. We'll provide continuous coverage of each round, so check back often for live notes. NOTE: Thursday's first round has been postponed due to weather; the first round will now be played on Friday.

NEW TV/TICKET INFO: Tickets for Thursday's postponed round of the BMW Championship will be honored over the weekend, tournament officials said Thursday afternoon.

Here is the policy for fans attending the tournament the rest of the week, as well as the latest TV information (note -- all times are ET; St. Louis is on CT):

FRIDAY (First round): First tee time at 11:40 a.m. ET as originally scheduled. Only grounds passes and hospitality passes dated Friday, Sept. 5, will be honored. Public parking and gates to open at 11 a.m. Television -- The Golf Channel, 2-6 p.m. ET

SATURDAY (Second, third rounds): First tee time at 8 a.m. ET. Grounds passes and hospitality passes for Thursday's postponed round, and Saturday's round, will be honored. Public parking and gates to open at 7 a.m. ET. Television -- NBC, Noon-3:30 p.m. ET. The Golf Channel will then broadcast the remainder of play following the conclusion of the NBC telecast.

SUNDAY (Fourth round): First tee time at 9 a.m. ET as originally scheduled. Grounds passes and hospitality passes for Thursday's postponed round, and Sunday's round, will be honored. Public parking and gates to open at 8 a.m. ET. Television -- NBC, 2-6 p.m. ET

Note: Unusued passes from Thursday's postponed round may be used only once over the weekend. Fans holding hospitality passes should check with their hosts for additional information. -- (2:45 p.m ET)

UPDATED INFO FOR EACH DAY: On Friday, the first round will be played with tee times running from 11:40 a.m.-1:41 p.m. ET

On Saturday, the 69 players in the field will be re-paired after the first round. There are 36 holes scheduled. The second round is scheduled to be played in threesomes off Nos. 1 and 10 tees on Saturday at 8 a.m. ET, with the third round to follow immediately. Players will not be re-paired between the second and third rounds.

On Sunday, the final round is scheduled to be played in twosomes off No. 1 tee starting at approximately 9 p.m. ET, with a scheduled 6 p.m. ET finish on NBC. -- (2:30 p.m. ET)

ROUND WIPED OUT: Until Thursday, the last time a round was completely wiped out by weather was the 2005 BellSouth Classic, when there was no play on Thursday or Friday. The tournament eventually was shortened to 54 holes and finished on Monday and was won by Phil Mickelson. -- (2:29 p.m. ET)

PADRAIG ON BELLERIVE: Like the other players in the field this week, Padraig Harrington knows that Bellerive will favor the heavy hitters this week.

Harrington

"It's a real big test," said Harrington, two-time major winner this year. "It's a long course -- it's amazing to have an old golf course that has as much room and length to it. You've got to hit your driver a number of times."

Added Harrington: "We haven't experienced the pin positions because they've all been in the center of the greens the last couple of days, but it'll be interesting when they start putting the pins into the corners of the greens how difficult it gets. Certainly there's enough trouble and water out there that it will make it tough enough." -- Mike McAllister (2:20 p.m. ET)

AFFECTED BY WEATHER: Here is the list of PGA TOUR events in 2008 with suspensions or delays in play: -- (2:16 p.m.)

BELLERIVE PREPARED: Thanks to the year-long Rees Jones renovation, Bellerive re-opened in October of 2006 with a better drainage system that paid dividends on Thursday when more than three inches of rain fell.

Sixteen miles of drainage were installed through the course, and all the bunkers were redesigned with new liners, drainage and sand. As a result, once the rain ends, there will be little to no standing water later this afternoon, and the course should be ready to go for the first round Friday morning. -- (1:49 p.m. ET)

36 HOLES ON SATURDAY: Tournament director Slugger White said the tournament will play its regular 18 holes on Friday, then re-pair after the first round according to scores before playing 36 holes on Saturday (with players still in threesomes). There will not be re-pairing after the second round, and the first-round leaders will tee off on No. 1 on Saturday morning.

"You just keep going like a big merry-go-round and hopefully in a perfect world we can get back on track Saturday evening and pairs on Sunday on one tee," White said.

The decision to play 36 holes on Saturday instead of Friday was made to give Bellerive "an extra 24 hours of drying time," White said.

"We've got a mess out there," White said of the course, who noted earlier that the rainy conditions "might be as bad as I've seen in a long, long time."

With the rain expected to let up this afternoon, the forecast for being able to get the tournament done by Sunday is favorable.

"We're looking pretty good as the week goes on," White said.

And as for playing 36 holes? It shouldn't bother the players.

"We'll be able to deal with it," Hunter Mahan said. "It's no big deal to play 36 holes."-- Mike McAllister (1:05 p.m. ET)

DONE FOR THE DAY: We won't be playing today. The first round has been postponed until Friday, with tee times staying the same. But we'll continue to provide more notes and player reaction from today as we get it. -- Mike McAllister (12:30 p.m. ET)

METEOROLOGIST UPDATE: PGA TOUR onsite meteorologist Stewart Williams said that Bellerive has already been hit with 2.2 inches of rain and expects another 1-3 inches over the next several hours, but that by the early afternoon, thunderstorms should be scattered.

Click here to view his full update on the weather. -- (12:27 p.m. ET)

COURSE NOW LONGER: Bellerive Country Club was already a long course at 7,324 yards, with no drivable par 4 (unlike the first two Playoff courses), with a par-4 10th that's 515 yards and the two par-5 holes that each exceed 600 yards.

"It's not an easy course," Vijay Singh said. "You know, it's a big golf course. There's a lot of big holes. 10 is one of the hardest par-4s I've played ... You have to go out there and drive it long and drive it straight and just play hard."

Now with the course being soaked by Thursday's rainy conditions, that will make the course play even longer ... which means the heavy hitters will have even more of an advantage.

Of the 69 players in the field, here are the top 10 and bottom 10 in terms of driving distance: -- Mike McAllister (12:15 p.m. ET)

RAIN. THE HEAVY STUFF: The rain has been coming down hard all morning, and there's no sign of a let up. According to weather.com, the light stuff won't even arrive until 6 p.m. tonight. (Click here for the hourly forecast and here for the weekend forecast.)

On the flip side, weather conditions for the rest of the week shouldn't be as bad, with just a 20 percent chance of precipitation Friday and Sunday, and 10 percent on Saturday.

We'll keep you posted the rest of the day on the condtions here at Bellerive. -- Mike McAllister (11:30 p.m. ET)