Tiger Woods believes that Bethpage State Park's Black course will only get worse if there is no further rain.
The first round of the US Open was washed out after just three hours following torrential rainfall, but round the clock work from groundstaff meant that play was able to begin as planned on Friday morning.
A drier day greeted players, allowing those who had started their first rounds to make improve their scores. However, despite finding his way back from two-over-par with birdies at the 11th and 14th, Woods ended the round with a four-over-par 74 following a double bogey at the par-four 15th and dropped shots at the 16th and 18th
Speaking after the round, Woods said: "It was a little wet. The course is playing tough, obviously.
"They moved quite a few tees up, but still, the fairways have dried out just enough where you're getting just a little bit of mud, and the wind is starting to pick up just a little bit. It picks up, dies down, picks up, dies down. Overall the golf course is playing difficult. I had a mud ball about four times today."
As one of the early starters Woods is unlikely to begin his second round until Saturday morning and the world number one believes those playing later on Friday will find conditions extremely tricky.
"I think the guys who are playing today and tomorrow morning are going to get more mud balls," he explained.
"It's only going to get worse, unless we get more rain. If we get more rain we won't catch them again but if it dries out more, this is going to get interesting, because you're going to have to hit.
"You would think you would have to hit low tee shots and run it off but the problem is, the fairways are so soft, it's not going to go anywhere. If you take the chance of carrying the ball out there, you also have a chance of picking up mud on the ball, too."