A five-hour thunderstorm caused chaos during the opening round of the DP World India Championship, and 12 players have been told they will not tee off at all on Friday

A five-hour electrical storm wreaked havoc during the first round of the DP World India Championship, with 12 competitors informed they won't begin play whatsoever on Friday.

Monsoon-style downpours descended upon Delhi Golf Club on Thursday afternoon, and the early 5:50 p. m.

nightfall in this region meant half the participants had to resume at daybreak on Friday to finish their initial rounds.

This has triggered a substantial domino effect. Certain golfers will contest 36 holes on Friday, while 12 won't step onto the course at all as DP World Tour organisers attempt to restore the tournament to its schedule and guarantee a champion is determined before dusk arrives on Sunday.

"The final two groups on each side (35, 36, 47, 48) will not start their second round today," The DP World Tour announced when releasing the second-round starting times, reports the Mirror US.

The impacted players are: Ricardo Gouveia, Euan Walker, Jens Dantorp, Jamal Hossain, Ryan Peake, Shaurya Bhattacharya, Hugo Townsend, Sebastian Soderberg, Jack Senior, Rocco Repetto Taylor, Sebastian Garcia and Ross Fisher.

They face a punishing day on Saturday, though they might find themselves in a marginally better situation than the golfers who will begin late on Friday afternoon.

Amongst them is the trio of Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood and Bob MacIntyre, who are scheduled out at 4:50 pm local time. They'll probably only complete three or four holes before action is halted for the evening.

Adding to the challenge, Delhi Golf Club ranks amongst the most demanding examinations on the DP World Tour.

The oppressive heat and humidity prove exhausting, while the confined layout renders every tee shot "uncomfortable," according to MacIntyre, who began with a four-under-par 68 to trail first-round leader Niklas Norgaard by two strokes.

"It's absolute carnage," MacIntyre said. "It's tough. You've got to make sure you've managed the ball well, make sure you're on the fairway, because if you're not, it's really difficult.

"The rough's up. Greens are running fairly well; when you land on them, you're not spinning them, so it's tough to get near pins. It's an absolutely brutal test of golf. It's not long. It's a short, old-style golf course, but what a test.

"It's probably the most uncomfortable I've ever been on the majority of tee shots on par fours. Just knowing that if you hit a poor shot, you're going to be OK, but if you hit a bad shot, you're really punished, which I think that's the way it should be in golf.

"You should be severely punished if you hit a bad shot. But yes, I mean, 4-irons, 5-irons off the tees, and you're still worried about the disaster."