MANCHESTER BY THE SEA — For all the talk entering the 115th Massachusetts Amateur about could former Westfield Academy star Molly Smith beat the boys and become the first female champion in history or if Connor Willett could keep hold of the Massachusetts Cup for another year, it was neither of those which dominated the day on Monday.

The winner on day one at the Essex County Club? Mother Nature.

A nearly four-hour fog delay in the morning was followed by an almost two-hour rain delay later on, resulting in half of the field unable to finish their opening round of stroke play qualification.

Those golfers who were still on the course when play was suspended for the day at 7:49 p.m. will return to complete the opening round Tuesday before round two commences later in the day as the field will be pared down to 32 for match play.

When play was called, Joshua Shepard and Nolan Skaggs were atop the leaderboard at 2-under early in their opening rounds.

Despite the two long stoppages, there was some excellent golf played by the morning wave.

Paired together in the 8:36 a.m. tee time, Jesse Zorfas and Mark Turner made a very long day worthwhile as each fired rounds of 1-under par 69.

“Let’s see. We left Boston at 6 to get here. Just your 12-and-a-half-hour shift,” joked Zorfas after the round. “It was all mentally about feeling like you weren’t completely restarting each time. We had a good group and it’s always good to look over and see another guy playing well because you can feed off that.”

Dedham’s John Broderick, a member of the Vanderbilt golf team, also carded a 69 along with James Imai.

Six players finished with rounds of 1-over 71 and three others finished at 72 in the morning wave, who will have to wait until early afternoon on Tuesday to begin their second rounds.

Those players who didn’t finish on Monday will also be the first ones to begin round two on Tuesday.