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 then suspended with 26 players having to return for a marathon finish Sunday. That might be good news for Woods, not so much for Rory McIlroy.
McIlroy darted to the top of the leaderboard, and not even a tee shot that lodged into a rotted tree on the third hole could slow him. Once he finally found it stuck in a rotted section of a thick branch, he took a penalty drop and fired 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 alongside 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 an 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.
Day 3 will re-commence Sunday at 7.45am local time. (eastern time)
