Greensboro, N.C. (AP) — Sergio Garcia followed through on a fairway shot
when he heard a noise that has become all too familiar this weekend at
Sedgefield Country Club.
The air horn sounded once again,
signifying yet another weather delay at a Wyndham Championship — where
most of the movement on "Moving Day" involved scurrying to the
clubhouse to beat the waves of showers.
Garcia and Chris Riley
were both 13 under par through 10 holes to share the clubhouse lead
Saturday night when play was stopped midway through the third round of
the rain-plagued tournament.
Steve Marino, Fred Couples, Kevin
Stadler and Justin Rose were 12 under and Brandt Snedeker and Bill Haas
were 11 under through varying stages of their rounds when play was
suspended due to darkness.
Tournament officials said the round
was scheduled to resume Sunday at 7:30 a.m., with a second cut and the
final round to begin at roughly 11 a.m.
"These are tough weeks,"
Riley said. "Seems like we've been doing this all year but, you know,
going to bed at 10 (p.m.) and waking up at 5 (a.m.) to play golf ...
we're athletes. So I guess we can do it."
During yet another long
day with abbreviated play at the Donald Ross-designed course at
Sedgefield — where two weather delays combined to last nearly 5 1/2
hours — there were a few highlights.
Marino, who started the
round six strokes off the pace, had seven birdies to vault up the
leaderboard — including one on the par-3 No. 16 in which his tee shot
landed 7 inches from the flagstick. He shot 63 to move to 198, and was
one of 24 players to finish the round.
"We were talking about it
when we went back out on (No. 14), if we were going to make it or not,"
Marino said. "We knew it was going to be close. The guys in front of us
motored and we made it. I'm really thrilled about that."
Couples,
the U.S. President's Cup captain who's still considering his final
picks, birdied four of his first eight holes to move into contention
for his first victory since 2003. And Rose had five birdies to rally
after starting the round four strokes back.
But once again, the dominant storyline at this stop-and-start tournament was the weather.
Play
was halted twice during Day 3 because of heavy rains and lightning.
After the second round was completed midmorning, the start of Round 3
was pushed back 2 1/2 hours while a band of thunderstorms passed
through.
Then, nearly four hours into the third round, everyone
went for cover again while another wave of storms pelted the central
North Carolina piedmont. Cups overflowed with water, fairways more
closely resembled streams and power was briefly knocked out to the
clubhouse during a television interview with Couples.
After a
2-hour, 49-minute delay — the third weather-related suspension of the
tournament — play finally resumed for about an hour before dusk fell.
Organizers already had been racing to play catch-up after a 4-hour
delay during the first round.
"There was a lot of stopping and starting for everybody," Couples said.
Riley
opened his round with an eagle on No. 1, using a 9-iron to knock his
approach shot about 165 yards into the hole. After the delay, he ran a
55-foot eagle putt to within 3 feet on No. 5 and tapped it in for
birdie.
The former UNLV player who's contending for his second
top-10 finish of the year — and second career PGA Tour victory — shared
the 36-hole lead with Maggert and Ryan Moore at 11-under 129.
Garcia
caught Riley on the 10th — he made a 33-foot birdie putt on that hole,
while Riley missed a 10-foot par putt and tapped in for bogey. Garcia
was standing over a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 11 when play was stopped
for the day.
Standing in the way: A weather-created, 26-hole
marathon Sunday for both Riley and Garcia. Then again, that's nothing
new during this tournament for Riley — who took his first lead Friday
while playing 21 holes.
"It's what we play for — definitely tests
your ability of what you've been working on," Riley said. "Guys like
Sergio (have) been there so many times it's probably just like playing
golf to them. To guys like me, it's different."