Tiger Woods began the day three back of first- and second-round leader Tom Lehman. It took him three holes to make that up, and as play began on their fifth hole, darkness halted round three of the Buick Invitational after a lengthy fog delay.
Woods came out firing and birdied his first two holes, the second from the bunker on the difficult par-3 11th. Lehman missed a 6-footer on the first for birdie, then struggled to make two eight footers on the next two holes for par and bogey. Tiger had teed off on the 14th (his fifth hole) when the siren sounded. Woods and playing partner Peter Lonard, who had also driven, elected to finish the hole while Tom Lehman headed for the clubhouse. Perhaps Lonard should have followed Lehman, as he double-bogeyed the hole to slide back to -11.
Ernie Els, two-under through five, begged officials to halt play. He sits at -10 with Kevin Sutherland and Dudley Hart. Vijay Singh, who birdied three of his last four, sits at -8. Third round play will re-commence at 7:30am on Sunday, pending weather.
From the ABC broadcast booth, Paul Azinger roundly criticized the PGA Tour’s policy of getting 72 holes in any way possible. The PGA Tour heads to Las Vegas for the Bob Hope, a five-round tournament beginning on Wednesday, making a Monday finish to this tournament a nightmare scenario for players.
Pos Name Today Thru Total T1 Tiger Woods -2 5 -14 T1 Tom Lehman +1 4 -14 T3 Luke Donald -2 5 -11 T3 Peter Lonard +1 5 -11 T5 Ernie Els -2 5 -10 T5 Kevin Sutherland E 5 -10 T5 Dudley Hart E 5 -10 T8 Charles Howell III -4 9 -9 T8 Aaron Baddeley -1 5 -9 T8 Arron Oberholser -1 5 -9
Coverage of the final round is scheduled for 3:30 to 6:30 on ABC.
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