After high winds forced Saturday's play at The Open to be suspended for several hours, the R&A confirmed the tournament will finish on Monday for the first time since 1988.

Torrential rain led to a delay of more than three hours on Friday and only 32 minutes of play were possible at St Andrews on Saturday morning before gusts led to another halt - with overnight leader Dustin Johnson having dropped a shot to sit level with Danny Willett on nine under.

By mid-afternoon, a restart time of 4pm had been targeted, with Johnson and Jordan Spieth among 39 players yet to finish their second rounds.

And it was subsequently announced that the third round had been pushed back to Sunday, with the final round taking place 24 hours later.

A statement from the R&A, released at around 1:30pm local time, read: "The forecasts we are receiving predict a drop in wind speeds between 3 and 4pm.

"Play is expected to resume at 4pm, providing we have acceptable wind speeds.

"The intention is to complete the second round today with the third round to be played on Sunday, and the final round to be played on Monday.

"An announcement regarding Saturday tickets and Monday tickets will be made shortly."

The blustery conditions played a factor in Johnson slipping back to nine under when he initially resumed his second round at 7am.

Johnson began his day's work with a poor chip on the 14th and then saw his ball blow back off the front of the green, with a bogey following.

He and Spieth made it as far as the 16th before organisers took action to stop play, with many players unable to putt as their balls blew around on the greens.

Louis Oosthuizen, two off the pace at seven under, saw the funny side as his ball rolled further away from the hole on the 13th, while Jason Day recorded consecutive bogeys to fall back to six under.

Paul Lawrie was the nearest challenger to the leaders, at eight under through 13 holes, while Adam Scott, Robert Streb, Zach Johnson and Marc Warren were two behind and safely in the clubhouse like Willett.

The R&A defended its decision to allow play to start, after several players - including Masters and U.S. Open champion Spieth (-5) - expressed frustration at the conditions they were made to play in.