Australian golf became an international laughing stock as the Australian Open course fell apart and the championship was reduced to 54 holes.

On a day when the tournament lurched from one crisis to the next, the opening round at Victoria Golf Club was abandoned and a decision was initially made to play the first round on Friday, the second on Saturday and 36 holes on Sunday.

Then, five hours later, the already farcical situation worsened when officials changed their minds.

The tournament will now be played over three rounds, leading to claims that the Australian Golf Union (AGU) had bowed to the wishes of the television station broadcasting the event.

Play was abandoned after players complained about the state of the drought-stricken course, saying they found it impossible to keep balls on the greens.

Defending champion Stuart Appleby, who described the greens as "teflon-coated", "diabolical" and "scary", said championship officials had gambled by trying to produce fast greens, and had lost.

"They played with a snake and got bit," Appleby said.

Embarrassed AGU boss Colin Phillips also said play was stopped because the area surrounding the holes had become crusty.

Phillips said later the concerns of sponsors and broadcasters had influenced the decision to cut 18 holes from the national championship.

But he had also taken into consideration the safety of players who would have been required to spend up to eight hours on the course on Sunday in predicted heat wave conditions.

Phillips said the PGA Tour which represents the players was "not entirely comfortable with all of this", but the AGU had proceeded regardless.

"We didn't want to take unnecessary risks and we didn't believe the event would be well-served by seeing players battling for such a long time in these conditions," he said.

He denied the AGU had been unduly influenced by the Open's television rights holder, Channel 7, but "their concerns were taken into account".

Channel 7 told the AGU there were technical limitations that made 36 holes on one day unworkable.

The debacle began when organisers, who had pushed Victoria's greens to their drought-stricken limit, had to abandon the first round of the Australian Open and cancel the scores of the 96 players who had teed off.

On the most disastrous day in the 98-year history of the championship, players were left shaking their heads in disbelief as play was halted and groundstaff began watering the greens.

The watering will continue overnight, but players said no amount of watering would improve the greens.

The first sign of a serious problem came at the third hole when the 26th group on the course, the Australians Bob Shearer, Mark Allen and Richard Ball called in officials when they found it virtually impossible to keep their golf balls on the green.

Ball had chipped to within 30cm of the hole, only to see his ball stop and then roll eight metres back down to the front of the green.

The West Australian putted it back to the hole twice more, and twice more it returned to the edge of the green. US PGA champion Rich Beem, who had completed only two holes when play was stopped, said the situation was "ridiculous".

"I never had an event cancelled before for perfect weather," Beem said.

"I think we're all laughing, I think it is quite humorous.

"The players are beside themselves wondering how this could happen."

Phillips said the greens had been cut and watered last night in preparation for the opening days play.

"We thought we had it about right," Phillips said.

He said the speed of the greens had been measured last night and were within the AGU's specified limit.

Phillips agreed he was embarrassed by the situation and accepted full responsibility.

"The buck stops with me," he said. But players found it difficult to accept the explanations, saying the signs had been clear earlier in the week that the greens were perilously close to unplayable.

"They set up the golf course in such a way that this could happen," Beem said.

"I could tell on Tuesday that this was possible."

Beem accused officials of negligence and expressed doubts that the course would be fit for play over the weekend.

"It seems like nobody from the rules committee set foot on the golf course until this morning, and then they go 'Oops, that's kind of fast'," he said.

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