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Water -- and not at No. 17 -- takes over final round at TPC

Bad weather truncates the final round. Woods and his pursuers will finish this morning.

By BOB HARIG

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 26, 2001

PONTE VEDRA BEACH -- As the saying goes, the Masters doesn't begin until the back nine on Sunday. Another motto is in order here: The Players Championship doesn't begin until the back nine on Monday morning.

For the second straight year, the PGA Tour's prestigious $6-million tournament was forced into a Monday morning finish because inclement weather Sunday afternoon interrupted the final round, with darkness eventually halting play.

Through nine holes of the final round, Tiger Woods holds a one-shot lead over third-round leader Jerry Kelly and Vijay Singh. Bernhard Langer is in fourth place, two shots back, with Billy Mayfair another shot behind. There are 22 players yet to complete the 72-hole tournament.

The tournament resumes at 10 a.m. today.

"We all knew that if we could get in nine or 10 holes it would be a good day," Woods said. "I happened to get off to a solid start. The golf course played a lot more difficult the first three days. It was a lot softer, more receptive, and the ball was picking up mud."

Play was suspended at 1:08 p.m. because of lightning and didn't resume until 4 because of heavy rain. It was halted at 6:49 because of darkness.

Despite the delay, Woods came out hot, making birdie on the first hole and eagle on the second to make up his two-stroke deficit to Kelly. He shot a front-nine 33 and is 12 under after making birdie on No. 9 for the lead. "It felt good to end on a positive note," Woods said. "When you hit a good tee shot, a good second shot, a nice third shot in there, and to really stay steady and hit a good putt. ... I hit good putts on the previous three holes and didn't make one. It was nice to go ahead and make that one."

Kelly, 34, who has never won a PGA Tour event and has led entering the final round just twice, held his own against Woods, playing the front nine in 36.

"It was kind of cool to watch, actually," Kelly said. "There were a lot of people out there. That's great. I expected it. I've been around him, in front and behind, so I knew what the galleries were like. ... I stayed calm.

"I am the big underdog. And that's fine with me. You know I'd love to be the favorite sometime down the road, where people actually expect me to win the tournament when I get in this position, no matter who I am playing."

Woods is nine holes away from consecutive victories after going five PGA Tour events this year and eight total without a win. And whether he wins or not, Woods appears to be rounding his game into shape for the year's first major championship, the Masters, which begins April 5.

In fact, it was a shot Woods practiced Saturday night in preparation for the Masters that propelled his fast start Sunday. He said he worked on various chip shots at the TPC-Sawgrass Stadium Course practice area, thinking about Augusta National, and a similar situation arose at the par-5 second hole.

Woods had 90 feet to the pin for his third shot, landed it on the green and saw it roll into the cup for an eagle. Kelly birdied the hole to tie him for the lead.

Singh stayed in the hunt with four birdies and two bogeys on the front nine.

"My mind-set was playing the golf course like it was set up (Saturday)," said Singh, the only player on the PGA Tour who has not had a round over par this season. "I think it threw everybody off a little bit. I think it is better for the guys who are behind, so they can fly the ball to the greens instead of playing conservatively to the middle of the greens.

"You just have to play the golf course the way it is set up. Right now it is set up soft, so you have to go out there and do your thing."

Last year's tournament also had to conclude on Monday, with Woods chasing Hal Sutton, the eventual winner by a shot.

NOTES: The weathermen are having a tough time this year on the PGA Tour. Bad weather was forecast for final rounds at the Genuity Championship in Miami and the Bay Hill Invitational in Orlando. Tournament officials moved up the starting times to beat the weather, which never turned poor. At The Players Championship, there was a 20 percent chance of rain predicted Sunday. Tournament officials kept with their original plan, with the leaders scheduled to tee off at 1:55 p.m. The weather delay meant they didn't tee off until 4:55 p.m. "I don't think they really expected the weather to come in like this," Woods said. ... This is the sixth time the tournament will be forced to a Monday finish. ... Chris DiMarco played the first three rounds without a bogey -- he had 11 birdies and eight double-bogeys. He bogeyed the first Sunday but came back with a hole-in-one at the par-3 third, hitting a 5-iron from 184 yards. ... Sutton eagled the fourth hole for the second time this week, hitting a wedge at the par-4 hole. "I don't know what to say," Sutton said. "I like that pin."

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