After Saturday, one thing is for sure… things will be busy on Sunday. From the bad weather on Thursday, the leaders have only completed two and a half rounds and will complete the third and fourth rounds on Sunday. Kenny Perry leads the Bay Hill Invitational after Saturday’s play, with Stephen Ames trailing by one and Vijay Singh and K.J. Choi trailing by two. Perry hit all but two fairways on Saturday, including his last shot of the day, a bomb on the twelfth.
Perry is looking to rekindle the flame of his 2003 season when he won three times, including victories at the Colonial and the Memorial. While Perry’s last shot might have been a blistered drive, he admits he was tired.
“I wanted to stop,” said Perry, who awoke at 4am and played 29 holes on Saturday. “I was mentally and physically tired, and I was ready to go.” When asked about Sunday, Perry said simply “It’s going to be a long day.”
Vijay is winning the battle for No. 1 after Tiger and Ernie collapsed in the Saturday marathon. Els shot a second-round 77 to fall from contention. Tiger left himself nine shots out of the lead as play was suspended, shooting +3 on the first 13 holes and falling back to even par. Vijay, who lost his #1 ranking to Woods two weeks ago, has a great chance to earn it back if he finishes with at least a two-way tie for third and Tiger is not in the top 20.
Other notables include Retief Goosen (-3), Adam Scott (-3), and Jimmy Walker (-2) who fired tournament-low rounds of 67. Scott was in jeopardy of missing the cut at +1; however, he finished his second round with eagle-birdie-par. Fred Couples (-5) and Sergio Garcia (-4) are looking to position themselves for a large check on Sunday, while Tiger Woods is in a tie for 33rd.
The third round clubhouse leaders, Aaron Baddley and Duffy Waldorf, are in at -4. Only 30 of the 70 players finished the third round. Play will resume Sunday at 8 am and final rounds should be completed on schedule. There was one hole-in-one registered on Saturday by Andrew Magee. He aced the 218-yard 2nd hole with a 5-iron; however, he failed to make the cut.
Pos Player Today Thru Total 1 Kenny Perry -3 11 -9 2 Stephen Ames -3 11 -8 T3 Vijay Singh -3 13 -7 T3 K.J. Choi -3 13 -7 5 Fred Couples -4 16 -5 T6 Aaron Baddeley -4 F -4 T6 Duffy Waldorf -4 F -4 T6 Jeff Maggert -2 14 -4 T6 Sergio Garcia E 13 -4 T10 Retief Goosen -4 F -3 T10 Adam Scott -5 F -3 T10 David Howell -2 16 -3 T10 Mark Calcavecchia -2 16 -3 T10 Graeme McDowell -1 15 -3 T10 Corey Pavin -1 14 -3 T10 Joe Ogilvie -1 14 -3 T10 Briny Baird -1 14 -3 T10 Joey Sindelar -1 14 -3 T10 Charles Howell III +2 11 -3
The final round can be seen on NBC at 2:30pm ET.