Steve Stricker is four-under par in
Saturday's third round of the Northern Trust Open and amassed a five-shot lead
before play was suspended.
Stricker is 14-under par and was on the 15th green when play was stopped for
darkness.
This tournament was plagued by rain on Friday and darkness halted play for the
day. The second round was scheduled to resume at 7:30 a.m. local time (10:30
a.m. ET) Saturday, but once again inclement weather struck.
The resumption of the second round was delayed 90 minutes, but the round was
completed. The golfers went out in threesomes off both the first and 10th tees
for round three and the round almost ended on Saturday.
Twelve golfers will be back at 7:00 a.m. local time (10:00 a.m. ET) Sunday to
finish off the third round. It'll be threesomes again off split tees for the
final round, but with a good forecast, play should easily be completed on
Sunday.
"It's going to be a long day tomorrow," said Stricker. "We've got to be out
here at 7:00 in the morning and got to prepare myself for just a long day, and
it's going to be tough."
Luke Donald (66) and J.B. Holmes (67) are in the clubhouse in second place at
nine-under 204. Andres Romero is one-under par after 14 holes of the third
round and nine-under par for the championship.
George McNeill posted a five-under 66 and is in fifth at eight-under 205.
Kevin Stadler and second-round leader Dustin Johnson are eight-under, but
still have to polish off the third round.
Alex Prugh (66) and Steve Marino (69) are tied for eighth at minus-seven.
Anthony Kim and Tim Wilkinson are both at seven-under par and are on the
course.
Two-time defending champion Phil Mickelson flew out of the gate with an eagle
at the first, but didn't keep it going. He holed some long par putts on the
front nine, but a pair of back-nine bogeys dropped him to an even-par 71 on
Saturday. Mickelson fell into a tie for 19th at four-under 209.
Mickelson, and the whole field for that matter, will have a tough time
catching Stricker, who was runner-up to Mickelson last year.
Stricker began the third round a stroke behind Johnson and both birdied the
first. Johnson lost a ball at the third hole and that led to a disastrous
double-bogey. Stricker was now in the lead at 11-under par.
He extended the advantage when Johnson dropped another shot at the fourth. At
the par-three sixth, Stricker knocked his tee ball to 14 feet and sank the
birdie putt to move three clear.
Two holes later, Stricker ran home a nine-footer for birdie and was four in
front. He had a putt from similar length for birdie at nine, but missed.
Stricker still had a four-stroke lead with 27 holes to play.
"Gave myself a lot of opportunities and made some and missed some," said
Stricker. "But that's what you need to do around here is just drive it in play
and knock it on the greens."
Stricker made another birdie at the 10th and found himself five ahead. He left
himself six feet for birdie at the par-five 11th, but couldn't convert.
Stricker parred his last three and has a long birdie putt on the 15th green.
Despite the large cushion, Stricker still knows there's a lot of work ahead of
him.
"I don't even know what kind of lead I have, but whatever it is, I still have
to come out and play my own game and make sure that I do the things that I've
been doing the previous three days," said Stricker.
With a win on Sunday, Stricker could move to No. 2 in the world rankings,
depending on Mickelson's finish. It would be Stricker's eighth PGA Tour
victory after three in 2009.
NOTES: Stricker has made the most birdies in the field this week with
15...Scott Verplank had the round of the day with a bogey-free 65 to move up
28 spots into a tie for 12th at six-under 207...Ernie Els managed a one-under
70 and is part of a group tied for 16th at five-under 208.
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