Day in Review: Rains soften course, Poulter sprints and Donald streaks

Chris Condon/PGA TOUR

Storms settle in over the 17th green at TPC Sawgrass on Saturday at THE PLAYERS.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- They played a few hours of golf on Saturday at THE PLAYERS Championship, but mostly the participants watched it rain, ate too much, played ping pong and finally rushed to beat darkness in the weather-shortened third round at TPC Sawgrass.

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There was a 4.5-hour rain delay that broke up the day of golf with only 40 players completing the third round. When the leaders retired to the locker room at nightfall, reigning U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell and Nick Watney shared the lead at 11 under par, one in front of second-round leader David Toms and Steve Stricker. They are not alone, as 19 players are bunched within four strokes of the lead, setting up a marathon shootout Sunday on a rain-softened Stadium Course.

Toms and Watney, in the final twosome, are on the sixth tee and have 30 holes to play on Sunday, with action starting at 7:45 a.m. The field will be repaired and the final round starts at approximately 11:30 a.m. with threesomes going off two tees. The final tee time is scheduled for about 1:42 p.m.

IN THE CLUBHOUSE: TPC Sawgrass's massive clubhouse was put to good use on Saturday, as players spent the afternoon hanging out. There was a ping-pong competition going on in the players lounge and the dining rooms were put to good use.

"I just hung out on the porch and watched it storm," Toms said. "I ate too much. My son has a friend with us this week and he's never been to a PGA TOUR event with us. So he met some of the players. I watched about 6-7 innings of an LSU baseball game on my phone. You're just biding your time, hanging around the locker room."

CHANGE IS GOOD: For the first time since THE PLAYERS Stadium Course was renovated in late 2006 and early 2007, THE PLAYERS Championship was interrupted by rain on Saturday. Approximately three-quarters of an inch of rain fell and there was a delay of 4 hours, 28 minutes from 1:02 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Play was suspended for the day at 8:04 p.m.

It was the first PLAYERS weather delay since 2005 when the third round was completed and final round played on Monday. Fred Funk won the title that year when rain made some of the course unplayable, including the fourth, seventh and 12th fairways.

The previous course didn't drain very well, but the current turf, with sand-capped fairways and a SubAir system under the greens, allows for the course to tolerate lots of rain.

"I rode down 4 fairway (in his golf cart) after it stopped raining, and it was like it did not even rain," tournament director Mark Russell said.

PREPARE TO GO LOW: The rainfall changed the characteristics of the course when play resumed late Saturday afternoon, particularly the greens. Martin Kaymer birdied the first four holes, K.J. Choi the first three, Nick Watney the first two and Graeme McDowell three of the five holes that he completed.

"You could play the golf course much, much more aggressively," McDowell said. "Before it rained, there was talk that 10-11 under might win. But now, I think it will take 15-16 the way things have softened up.

Water Log: 17th hole

How many tee shots found the water at the famous 17th island green? Check out Saturday's numbers. Click here

"I'm not saying it will be a score-fest, but it will be much more scoreable. I think you could definitely see someone shooting 62-63 tomorrow and coming back.

"It's one of the most exciting finishes in golf and with all of these guys at the top, I'm just glad to be a part of it."

17 TO START: Sweden's Peter Hanson was on a roll Saturday morning, making seven birdies in the first 16 holes, on top of making birdies on his final two holes on Friday to make the cut. Then the darkness, rain and wind came. He was first up on the 17th tee. For the next 4 1/2 hours, the course's most feared hole was on his mind. At 5:30 p.m., Hanson made a routine par on 17, then drove poorly on 18 and settled for a bogey and a 66. He reached 7 under.

"If you would have 17 and 18 as hole No. 1 and 2, I wouldn't play golf," Hanson said.

POUTLER SPRINTS: Ian Poulter displayed his final kick on Saturday night to complete the third round and not return early Sunday morning to complete his third round. Phil Mickelson and Martin Laird, in the group in front of Poulter and Dustin Johnson, waved them to hit on 18 before the horn sounded the end play. They had discussed the possibility of the final-hole finish two holes earlier. Players are allowed to complete the hole once they tee off.

"A little 300-yard sprint is well worth four hours in bed," Poulter said.

STREAKY LUKE: The streakiest golfer this week and on the season just may be Luke Donald. The Englishman is three behind leaders Graeme McDowell and Nick Watney. Consider these streaks:

- He had not made a bogey this week until the fifth hole on Saturday, a streak of 40 holes in THE PLAYERS, and a run of 46 consecutive holes without a bogey, dating back to the 12th hole in the final round of the Zurich Classic in New Orleans.

- Donald has 19 consecutive rounds of par or below and 13 consecutive rounds under par. He has only two rounds all year (in 24 rounds) where he shot above par.

- Donald has also recorded six consecutive top-10 finishes this season. His only finish outside of the top 10 was a missed cut at the Northern Trust Open, his first start of the season, where he made two double bogeys on the back nine in a second-round 79.

- Donald leads the PGA TOUR in Scoring Average (69.08), is second in Putting Average and fifth in Birdie Average.

UP AND DOWN BUBBA: Bubba Watson, the FedExCup leader and a two-time winner on TOUR this year, rode the rollercoaster back down on Saturday. He shot a first-round 76, came back with a 66 on Friday and then a 76 on Saturday. His third round included a bogey-triple bogey-bogey finish and a back-nine 41.

"Terrible," Watson said of his round. "It was a long round and a long day."

Of the 17th hole, where he hit his tee shot short in the water and his third shot spun off the front of the green into the water, he said: "Just two bad shots, what can I say?"