Weather delay may give Tiger new life in PGA

Associated Press

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C.

Tiger Woods watched the flight of his tee shot until he could see it drifting too far right, and he hung his head slightly as the ball tumbled off the green. Already with three bogeys in seven holes, it looked as though nothing was going right for him in the PGA Championship.

Dark clouds seem to have followed Woods on the weekend at majors this year. On Saturday at Kiawah Island, they might have saved him.

Facing a 7-foot putt to avoid another bogey, the darkening sky crackled with thunder and play was suspended with 26 players having to return for a marathon finish today. That might be good news for Woods, not so much for Rory McIlroy.

McIlroy raced to the top of the leaderboard, and not even a tee shot that lodged into a tree on the third hole could slow him. Once he finally found it stuck in a rotted section of a thick limb, he took a penalty drop and drilled his wedge to 6 feet to save par.

He went out in 32 after a bogey on the ninth hole and was at 6-under par, tied with Vijay Singh, who was on the par-3 eighth hole.

“It’s nice going into the final day — hopefully, if we get it finished — in a great position,” McIlroy said. “And it being 27 holes, I definitely don’t mind. I don’t mind if it takes a while to get done.”

Singh started and finished his short day with birdies —6an 18-foot putt on the first, and a 25-foot putt on the par-5 seventh.

Right behind was Adam Scott, showing more magic than hangover from his British Open collapse last month. Scott was three shots out of the lead when the third round began and cruising along with pars until four birdies on the last five holes of the front nine. That stretch began with a shot he holed from a sandy area on the par-3 fifth, and it ended with a 45-foot birdie putt across the green on the ninth.

“Right now I am in good position,” Scott said. “Unfortunate not to continue because I was on a little bit of a run. But hopefully, I’ll come back out and play 27 good ones tomorrow.”

About the only players disappointed to see the windswept third round end were the players who had already finished — Bo Van Pelt (67) at 3-under 213, Steve Stricker (67) at 2-under 214, Padraig Harrington (69) another shot behind.

And Woods.

He failed to birdie the par-5 second hole when he tugged his approach into the back bunker and only blasted out to 20 feet. The real damage came on the third hole, the one that saved McIlroy. Woods hit a wedge into 4 feet, and his birdie putt raced by the edge of the cup.

It unraveled after that. He hit a spectator with his tee shot at No. 4, signing a glove for the fan, went over the green and muffed a difficult chip. Woods had to make a 4-foot bogey putt, and then hit another low hook that led to bogey on the fifth.