WHEATON, Ill. -- Mark Harrell, who missed the cut at last month's U.S. Open by one stroke, and Clayton Rask shot 3-under-par 69s Monday to share the lead in the rain-delayed first round of the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship.
Seventy-eight players, half the field, were still on the course when play was called for the day after thunderstorms stalled over the area.
Defending champion Casey Watabu of Kapaa, Hawaii, parred his first hole before play was suspended on the 7,048-yard Cantigny Golf Club course.
Lucas Lee, a sophomore at UCLA from Brazil, and Nicholas Becker of Boise, Idaho, were one stroke behind Harrell, a senior at Alabama, and Rask, a senior at Minnesota.
The first round was to be completed Tuesday morning with the second, and final, round of medal play scheduled to start in mid-afternoon.
The top 64 after stroke play will advance to match play.
Play was originally stopped at 2:28 p.m. CT. When the thunderstorms never cleared, the round was suspended for the day at 5:40 p.m. It is scheduled to resume Tuesday morning at 7:30 a.m. local time, with the second round set to begin at 10:10 a.m.
Danny Sorgini, Brad Stainsby, Carlos Estanislao Goya and Rory Hie were all on the course at 2 under par.
Philip Arouca was in the clubhouse with a 1-under 71, but only after his group was penalized a shot for slow play. He joined Rask, Harrell, Lee and Becker as the only five players to break par in the morning tee times.
The leaders played in the same group off the 10th tee.
Rask, 22, made the turn at even-par after posting two birdies and two bogeys on his first nine holes. He made three more birdies on a bogey-free front nine, but only joined Harrell in the lead when Harrell bogeyed the par-4 ninth -- their final hole.
Harrell posted six birdies and three bogeys for his 69. The pair made birdies on the same hole twice during their round.
"We were both making birdies and it almost was like we were playing against each other," said Harrell. "So it was fun. It helped us play good and we had a good time and I'm looking forward to tomorrow."
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