Pádraig Harrington was relieved to come off the Bethpage Black course on Thursday after he had suffered a disastrous start to his opening round.
The Irishman was four-over-par after six holes before the heavens opened and play had to be suspended for the day.
"If you've started badly, you're delighted to be going off the golf course," Harrington said.
"I'm starting a new round tomorrow and it doesn't look like this round was going in a very nice direction for me."
Harrington was playing in a grouping with fellow current major holders Tiger Woods and Angel Cabrera. He bogeyed the first and fourth holes before double-bogeying the fifth.
"It's all about momentum in the bad weather, starting with a three-putt and then dropping a shot from nowhere," Harrington said.
"All of a sudden I'm two over par and I haven't played quite well and I'm trying to figure out 'how am I going to get back in this'?
"How am I going to make some birdies and recover? I'm on the back foot, so the best thing for me is to come back fresh tomorrow.
"I know it's going to be early. It's a new start but for me, I've still got 66 holes of this tournament [to play].
"So if I can get it into my head in some shape or form the 66 holes to go, I am amazed two bogeys and a double bogey won't really cost me at the end of the day, but that's hard coming from four over par, too."