American Ben Curtis finally achieved his first win since the 2003 Open on Tuesday - after the US Tour's rain-hit Booz Allen Classic had gone into not just one extra day, but two.

Curtis had been left with just two holes to play overnight and could sleep easily with a seven-stroke lead.

The American did bogey the short 17th on his return to the course - after a further hold-up - and was in two bunkers for another dropped shot on the last, but it did not matter.

A round that began on Sunday ended with him scoring a one-under-par 70 to win by five at 20 under.

Padraig Harrington had finished his tournament on Monday, but clung on to joint second place when Australian Nick O'Hern and then American Steve Stricker failed to make the closing birdie which would have made them runner-up on their own.

They missed putts of 33 and 21 feet respectively and that left them and Harrington in a four-way tie with Billy Andrade.

Harrington, in the field for this week's French Open in Paris, had begun the final round in 10th spot and said: "Obviously there was a little worry that we wouldn't get the end of this round finished.

"It made a big difference to me. I was trying to get those ranking points for the Ryder Cup, so if they pulled the round it would have been very disappointing. Thankfully, they got it in."

On Curtis' wire-to-wire victory - he began with a career-best 62 - the Dubliner added: "I think it's important, very important. Ben has always had all the credentials.

"He had a good amateur career. He was a good young pro when he turned pro. Winning the British Open put him under a lot of pressure. If anything, it wouldn't be easy to play good golf after that.

"You can take it two ways. I think it came so early for Ben that he probably was always trying to prove to everybody he was an Open winner. Obviously wins like this prove that he's right.

"He will probably go on to be a stronger player now that he has another win under his belt and I'm sure win more in the future."

The further delay in the tournament this morning resulted in the cancellation of the Open qualifying event at nearby Congressional.

It had already been put back 24 hours and reduced from 36 to 18 holes, but the cancellation appeared to be great news for Lee Westwood and Greg Owen and bad news for fellow Britons Justin Rose and Brian Davis.

The rules of the Open are that in such a circumstance the places on offer - 12 in this case - go to the highest-ranked players in the field.