The Barclays Scottish Open has been rained off until 2pm at the earliest today.

Storms and torrential overnight rain caused flooding on the Castle Stuart links, near Inverness.

Spectators were held back from even being given access to the course while officials assessed the situation, as conditions were so bad.

No announcement was being made until noon and there had to be a possibility that the pre-Open warm-up event would be cut from 72 holes.

Two stoppages yesterday have meant the 156-strong field had still to complete their second rounds.

Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell and Scots Peter Whiteford and Scott Jamieson led overnight at 11 under par.

However, the world's top two Luke Donald and Lee Westwood - both seven under when play was called off for the day last night - had nine and seven holes to complete.

The morning rain had eased but the forecast was not good - more showers for the rest of the day and tomorrow - with another storm thunderstorm possible overnight.

The only upside of the tournament was that if conditions improved sufficiently there would be the light to carry on to as late as 10.30pm.

Championship director Peter Adams said: "It's such a shame because we were on course to have 50,000 people for the week. It might even have got up to 60,000 and if we had done that in the first year here it would have been fantastic.

"We're keeping the course closed until further notice, but are doing everything we can to make it playable and if we can ensure it is safe for everybody we will open later in the day."

Big crowds were expected over the weekend to see not only five of the world's top nine, but also two home players at the top of the leaderboard and Colin Montgomerie - like Jamieson and many others - trying to earn a last-gasp spot in The Open.

There is an option to continue the event on Monday, but this again depends on the conditions, the forecast and how much golf is left to be played.