Weather forces major delay

SPRINGFIELD, N.J. - Several days of record high temperatures finally gave way to bad weather, and the timing wasn't good for the PGA Championship.

The second of two weather delays Sunday at Baltusrol Golf Club forced the suspension of the final round with 12 players left on the course. Those dozen players, including 54-hole co-leaders Phil Mickelson and Davis Love III, will resume play on the final five holes of the course.

The fourth round will resume at 10:05 this morning in the first Monday finish for the season's final major championship since the 1986 event at Inverness Golf Club in Toledo, Ohio.

Lightning halted another drama-filled Sunday afternoon for the season's final major.

Mickelson, who began the day sharing the lead with Love at 6 under, stands at 4 under with a one-shot lead through 13 holes over Steve Elkington and Thomas Bjorn.

Mickelson missed a 6-foot birdie attempt at the 14th hole and was lining up a 3-foot par putt when tournament officials stopped play.

"A lightning bolt struck pretty close and we got off pretty fast," Mickelson said about the weather horn blowing before attempting his par putt. "I love this championship but I want to live, man."

Elkington, the 1995 PGA champion who wrested the lead from Mickelson before a bogey at the 15th hole, was on the 16th tee when play was suspended. Bjorn, who equaled the major championship record of 63 in the third round, was on No. 15.

Love, the 1997 PGA champion, bogeyed four of five holes on the front nine. He is 2 under and, like Mickelson, has a par-putt attempt on the 14th green. Defending champion Vijay Singh (three holes to play) and Tiger Woods (68) are 2 under, and Retief Goosen (two holes left) is 1 under.

"I have to forget about the holes I've played and worry about the four I have left," said Love, who has seven bogeys on the front nine in the past two rounds.

Since he's the leader in the clubhouse, Woods is holding onto hope that the leaders continue have problems down the stretch. None of the players on the course are under-par for the fourth round, so Woods has a chance to back into a playoff.

The bad news is that the leaders still have the par-5 17th and 18th holes remaining, which Woods had a chance to reach in two shots. He ended with birdies.

"Guys are making mistakes," said the Masters Tournament and British Open champion. "It'll be frustrating if I lose. If you (are) happy losing, there's something wrong with you."

Mickelson led by three shots after 36 holes at 8 under. He shot 2-over-par 72 in the third round, and was 2-over on Sunday's round at the time of the suspension.

However, he didn't seem concerned about backsliding across the Baltusrol landscape.

"I don't feel like today was a slide like (Saturday)," Mickelson said. "I thought the course was playing tremendously harder. I don't feel like there were any spots where I wasted a shot or where I couldn't save par."

Mickelson said the players returning today would have an advantage.

"We get a few extra holes to play and some hopefully calm weather after some rain," he said. "We also may play without some wind."

Kerry Haigh, the managing director of tournaments for the PGA of America, said there was no discussion with CBS about changing the 3 p.m. starting time for the final pairing because of threatening weather forecasts.

The PGA Tour, in the past, has moved starting times up and sent the players off the first and 10th tees, and in threesomes, to speed up play to beat bad weather.

"For almost a year, we had agreed on the finish times," Haigh said. "The finish times were set for 7 p.m. The forecast all week long had been for scattered storms and a chance of storms, and we have been very fortunate up to now."

But most local weather forecasts had called for as much as a 60 percent chance of thunderstorms, and the area had been put on a severe weather watch early in the afternoon. The first suspension, because of lightning in the area, came at 2:45 p.m., and was lifted at 3:27 p.m.

Haigh said the golf course came within "four miles" of missing the last storm.

"We're obviously disappointed for the spectators who are unable to see the finish," Haigh said.

And the finish will come on a Monday for the fifth time this season in PGA Tour-sanctioned events.

For the record

Denmark's Thomas Bjorn is just a shot behind Phil Mickelson entering today's weather-delayed finish of the PGA Championship. Bjorn, who tied the tournament record with 63 on Saturday, is tied for second with Steve Elkington. Bjorn has four holes left to complete today.