RICHMOND, Texas — More rain on already saturated grounds at The Houstonian Country Club washed out play at the LPGA Tour Championship yesterday, forcing tour officials to cut the season-ending event to 54 holes.

More than 1.4 inches of rain fell on the course from Friday morning until the decision was made to call off play early yesterday afternoon.

Play is expected to resume this morning to complete the second round. A cut will be made to the low 70 scores and ties, and a third round and final round will be played tomorrow morning.

"We had a plan to try and play 72 holes by Monday, but that would have required players to possibly stay over for Tuesday and we didn't want to do that," said Doug Brecht, the tour's vice president for rules and competition.

Tournament leader Lorena Ochoa, who can win her fourth straight LPGA Player of the Year award with a win this week, has not hit a shot in competition since early Thursday afternoon when she finished a first-round 66.

Hawai'i's Michelle Wie dropped out after the first round with an ankle injury. The Punahou School alum and current Stanford student shot 72.

DUBAI WORLD

Westwood leads: Lee Westwood maintained his two-shot lead, firing a 6-under 66 yesterday in the third round of the Dubai World Championships at Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The Englishman made six birdies to take his total to 15-under 201. England's Ross McGowan was second after a 66. Westwood opened a five-shot advantage over Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, his only remaining rival for the Race to Dubai. Should he win both titles, Westwood will receive $2.75 million and become Europe's No. 1 player for the first time since 2000.