Thunderstorms delay Hoylake start by 30 minutes

HOYLAKE, England, July 20 (Reuters) The scheduled start of the 135th British Open was put back by half an hour today because of thunderstorms in the Hoylake area.

Sweden's Peter Hedblom, who will hit the first shot of the championship, was set to tee off at 0700 local (0600 GMT in the company of Australia's Steve Elkington and American Jerry Kelly.

After weeks of unrelenting sunshine at Hoylake's Royal Liverpool Golf Club, thunderstorms rolled into the north-west of England last night and further showers are expected tomorrow.

Twice champion Tiger Woods, who coasted to victory by five strokes at St Andrews last year, will now tee off at 1439 local (1339 GMT) along with three-times winner Nick Faldo and Shingo Katayama of Japan.

Ernie Els, the 2002 champion at Muirfield, was set to start at 0828 with Britain's Luke Donald and Italy's Edoardo Molinari, winner of the 2005 US amateur title.

Masters champion Phil Mickelson, still bruised after his final-hole meltdown at last month's US Open at Winged Foot, had a 0950 teeoff in the company of Britain's Darren Clarke and Yasuharu Imano of Japan.

In other high-profile groupings, Vijay Singh, European number one David Howell and American Zach Johnson will begin at 0850 on Thursday while Briton Colin Montgomerie, who finished second behind Woods at last year's championship, will tee off at 0928 in the company of big-hitting John Daly and Australia's Stuart Appleby.

REUTERS PM BD1154