U.S. Senior Open final round suspended due to inclement weather, Hiroyuki Fujita leads

A Golf Channel look of the U.S. Senior Open in a weather delay. | Golf Channel/NBC Sports/USGA

The final round of the 44th Senior Open at Newport Country Club has been suspended until Monday due to adverse weather conditions.

A little after 3:00 p.m. ET, the United States Golf Association (USGA) suspended play at the U.S. Senior Open as dangerous storms rolled into the Newport, Rhode Island area.

Tournament officials tried to get ahead of the weather, scheduling final round tee times to begin at 8:20 a.m. ET. But fog delayed play by two hours, putting the field in Mother Nature’s hands.

The USGA also hoped to resume the final round on Sunday, but storms dampened the course, and humid conditions called for more thundershowers later in the evening. As a result, the USGA called the shot to restart the final round on Monday morning, but an official starting time is TBD. The forecast calls for more rain in Rhode Island on Monday afternoon.

Hiroyuki Fujita holds a three-shot lead over LIV Golf’s Richard Bland, as Fujita sits at 16-under. Richard Green is 12-under, while Steve Stricker, the 2019 U.S. Senior Open champion, is at 11-under.

Players faced challenging conditions during the final round as a stiff breeze blew off the Atlantic Ocean and across Newport Country Club. But the one contender who thrived on Sunday was Bland, who won the Senior PGA Championship last month at Harbor Shores in Michigan. Bland birdied his first three holes to soar into contention and was 4-under through 10 holes when officials called players off the golf course. He owned one of the best rounds on Sunday, as only Ernie Els had a better day. The South African is 5-under through 15 holes but 10 back of Fujita.

The leaderboard follows below:

1. Hiroyuki Fujita -16 (10)

2. Richard Bland -13 (10)

3. Richard Green -12 (10)

4. Steve Stricker -10 (10)

T5. Vijay Singh -7 (15)

T5. Paul Stankowski -7 (10)

T5. Bob Estes -7 (10)

T8. Ernie Els -6 (15)

T8. Stephen Ames -6 (14)

T8. Thongchai Jaidee -6 (12)

T11. Padraig Harrington -5 (14)

T11. Y.E. Yang -5 (12)

T11. Steven Alker -5 (11)

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.