Was that ever an official rule? I always thought it was left up to the Tournament Committee.
For our member tournaments at our club, we will only count the holes that everyone has completed.
Rules 33-1 and 33-2 d give the Tournament Committee the decision to suspend and restart a round or cancel the round.
It is the sole judgement of the Committee to decide, however, if restarting a round is very unfair to players that were out on the course at the time of suspension, it should cancel.
The decisions book has guidelines that shed more light. Decisions for tournaments with and without TV, with pros or with amateurs at club level are probaly very different due to different circumstances.
33-1/2Number of Holes of Stroke-Play Competition Reduced During the Competition
Q.A 72-hole stroke-play competition is scheduled over four consecutive days. Eighteen holes are to be played each day. On the third day, all competitors finish the first nine holes but a number of competitors are still playing the second nine holes. At that point, the course becomes unplayable due to heavy rain and play is suspended. The rain continues and it is impossible to resume play that day. What are the Committee's options?
A.The Committee does not have the authority to reduce the number of holes of a stipulated round once play has commenced for that round.
Under Rules 33-1 and 33-2d, the Committee has the following choices:
(a) resume play the next day and finish the third round and then play the last 18 holes that day or on a subsequent day,
(b) cancel the third round, replay it on a subsequent day and then play the last 18 holes that day or on a subsequent day,
(c) reduce to three the number of rounds of the competition and finish the suspended third round on a subsequent day, or cancel the third round and replay it on a subsequent day, or
(d) cancel the third and fourth rounds and declare the leader after 36 holes to be the winner.The first option is the preferred option as it is undesirable to cancel a round after extensive play has taken place (see choice b above) or to reduce the number of rounds of a competition when the competition is in progress (see choices c and d above).
33-2d/1Guidelines on Whether to Cancel Round
Q.In stroke play, in what circumstances should a Committee cancel a round?
A.There is no hard-and-fast rule. The proper action depends on the circumstances in each case and must be left to the judgment of the Committee.
Generally, a round should be canceled only in a case where it would be grossly unfair not to cancel it. For example, if some competitors begin a round under extremely adverse weather conditions, conditions subsequently worsen and further play that day is impossible, it would be unfair to the competitors who started not to cancel the round.