Perfect storm appears for a Sunday shootout at the Stadium Course

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Graeme McDowell shares THE PLAYERS lead with Nick Watney but it's anyone's guess who will be on top once Sunday's marathon concludes.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- There has never been a 62 shot at THE PLAYERS Championship. The pressure is too tough, the closing holes too demanding, the par-72 TPC Sawgrass too unpredictable and the 17th hole too catastrophic to create the perfect storm of any player signing for a 10-under round.

But for those players hoping to claim the PGA TOUR's signature event on Sunday, a 62 -- or at least something in close proximity -- may be needed. And it may be possible, thanks to the thunderstorms that rolled through the area early Saturday afternoon, leaving the course defenseless, its damp conditions providing for target golf once play resumed late in the day.

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"I could see someone going and shooting 62, 63 tomorrow," said Graeme McDowell, who owns a share of the lead with Nick Watney. "I think there's a low score on this golf course, depending on what the wind does tomorrow. But it really has opened the field up a little bit, these conditions now."

Who knows whether those same conditions will be present Sunday morning at 7:45 a.m. ET when the 34 players who have yet to complete their third rounds begin what will be a long and intense day. The sub-air system will continue to dry the course, and the final-round pin placements will no doubt be challenging as usual.

But the players expect a shootout on Sunday. Twenty-six pros are within five shots of the lead, and there is plenty of golf remaining. The four players at the top of the leaderboard -- McDowell and Watney, followed by David Toms and Steve Stricker one shot back -- have 31 holes to play.

"The leaderboard is packed," said Watney, who won the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship earlier this year, "and there's a bunch of good players up there."

Lots of movement remains on the leaderboard, and the champion will not be the one hanging on for dear life, but the one who plays aggressive and capitalizes on all his chances.

"Maybe if the golf course had stayed the same way it was yesterday and continued to firm up, 10-, 11-under might have won this golf tournament," McDowell said. "But I think it's going to take 15, 16, maybe more, with the way things have softened up."

Toms was the 36-hole leader after Friday at 10 under. NBC analyst Johnny Miller told him that a pair of 71s on the weekend would probably be good enough to win his first TOUR event in five years. But Miller's prediction came before the rains hurtled down.

"Obviously I don't think that would be the case now," Toms said. "But that's OK. It's a golf course where I've shot some good scores this week already. You just have to know that maybe you just have to be a little bit more aggressive at times."

Play was delayed for 4-1/2 hours Saturday afternoon due to the torrential rain and lightning in the area. The last 10 groups of the day had yet to tee off.

Once the third round resumed at 5:29 p.m. ET, guys started stringing together runs of three and four birdies at a time. In the first four holes he played, Martin Kaymer needed less than six feet of putts to make four birdies. Robert Allenby, who had played most of his round before the delay, ended with four straight birdies.

McDowell had three birdies in the five holes he played. Watney and Stricker had two each. The 44-year-old Toms, however, failed to take advantage of his brief time on the course, his uncooperative putter leaving him with nothing but five pars. And now he faces a long and demanding Sunday against younger competitiors.

But the long day will feel much shorter for the guys who are putting up red numbers.

"If you're playing well," Toms said, "a lot of times you kind of forget how many holes you have to play."

The contenders are many -- Lucas Glover, last week's Wells Fargo Championship winner; Martin Kaymer, the reigning PGA champion; and Luke Donald, one of the heavy favorites coming in, to name just three. Even Phil Mickelson, who finds himself in a logjam at 5 under after just barely completing his third round before the siren blew to halt play due to darkness, doesn't discount his chances.

"I've got to go low," said Mickelson, who will be able to sleep in late. "I've got to shoot 8 or 9 under."

If he shoots 10 under, it would be that elusive 62. But after the lengthy storm on Saturday, perhaps the perfect storm will present itself Sunday for a course record.

"I'm not saying scorefest tomorrow," McDowell said, "but I'm saying much more scorable than it would have been."

And even if it doesn't?

"It's going to be exciting," he added. "This is probably one of the most exciting finishes in world golf, and to have that many guys within striking distance tomorrow, it's going to be a lot of fun."