LIVERMORE, Calif. -- In weather sometimes better suited for a duck, it only seemed fitting that a guy who grew up in the shadows of the Ducks would seem most comfortable. Jeff Quinney, who was raised in Eugene near the University of Oregon campus, added a 4-under-par 68 to his opening 67 and moved to the top of the leaderboard at the rain-delayed Livermore Valley Wine Country Championship.

Quinney is at 9-under par and currently four shots better than Movistar Panama Championship winner Tripp Isenhour and Craig Bowden, who had to slosh their way around The Course at Wente Vineyards under a blanket of rain, wind and cold. Afternoon high temperatures never cracked 60 degrees and southwest winds of 10-20 mph occasionally gusted to 30 mph.

Tournament officials were forced to suspend play at 4:23 pm with half of the field yet to finish round two. Heavy afternoon rains turned the Greg Norman-designed layout into puddles and streams and the forecast was for continued storms. The second round will resume at 7:30 Saturday morning and following play the field will be cut to the low 60 and ties.

Isenhour completed 17 holes and is 5-under, while Bowden is also at 5 under with seven holes to go. Of those that have finished 36 holes, Jacob’s Creek Open Championship winner Paul Sheehan (69) and Monday qualifier Matthew Jones (69) are at 3-under 141 and six back of Quinney’s impressive run.

Round three tee times are slated to run from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm with play in threesomes off both the first and 10th tees.

Isenhour was in the afternoon’s lead group and will return to play one hole in an effort to close the gap on Quinney.

“You can’t put it into words,” said Isenhour of the treacherous conditions. “They’re the most difficult conditions I’ve been in in a while. Not only is the course wet and long but the wind was gusting so much and changing in mid-stream. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

To highlight the difference between days, Isenhour hit 6-iron into the green at the 453-yard 17th hole Thursday. In Friday’s wind and rain, the 37-year old Floridian failed to get home in two, coming up about 30 yards short of the green.

“Hats off to Jeff, that’s some great play,” said Isenhour, who chose not to try and finish the final hole. “I watched Bob (Heintz) hit his drive and it came up about 40 yards short of where we hit it yesterday. It wouldn’t have been smart to tee it up.”

Quinney, who needed a par on the 18th Friday morning to close out his bogey-free round and grab a share of the first-round lead with Isenhour, drew the better of the weather and didn’t need an umbrella until the final hole Friday morning. He birdied four of his final five holes during round two to distance himself from the rest of the 143 challengers.

“I finally got some putts to drop there at the end,” said Quinney, who rolled in birdies of 15, 10 and 10 feet on the final three holes. “For my score, it hasn’t been the result of a super-hot putter. I’m just doing it with ball-striking.”

Quinney has been nearly flawless the first two days, hitting 26 of 28 fairways and 31 of 36 greens in regulation. Much of the credit, he says, goes to a switch in equipment. The former Arizona State University standout changed his driver and irons to the company he used during his days with the Sun Devils.

“My confidence has been building since I made the switch in Australia and New Zealand,” he said. “My driver is normally what keeps me down. Now I can step up there and rip it with some confidence. It’s going a little longer and straighter. With that, my confidence keeps building.”