With Fog, They’re Not Out of Woods Yet

LA JOLLA —  Here’s how Tiger Woods spent his Saturday:

Rise and shine at 5 a.m.; show up at Torrey Pines for his 7:30 tee time to play the last hole of the second round left over from the day before; wait until 10 a.m. because of a fog delay; birdie the hole; wait for the start of the third round at noon; find out it is suspended at 12:46 p.m. because of fog; back to the hotel room for a nap; back to the course for his 3:57 p.m. tee time; play five holes; finally quit at 5:20 p.m. because it’s as dark as a nightmare.

Now, if you think that falls something short of an ideal itinerary, then it’s certainly close to the ideal recipe for a major headache. The Buick Invitational doesn’t need a tournament director, it needs someone who can get rid of all the pesky fog that is threatening to turn this thing from a pleasant golf tournament into some kind of mini-series.

The good news for Woods is that he birdied two of the five holes he managed to play in his third round and tied Tom Lehman for the lead at 14 under par.

Woods wound up his fog-delayed second round with a 63 Saturday morning to get within three shots of Lehman after 36 holes. No one knew the next five would be so far off.

Woods, Peter Lonard and Lehman were playing together and reached the 14th tee, their fifth hole, when the horn sounded to stop play at 5:07 p.m. But while Lehman decided to stop right there -- (“I can’t see,” Lehman said), Woods went ahead and two-putted for par. Lonard wasn’t as fortunate, hitting a bad drive that led to a double bogey.

But Woods said there was no question he was going to play the hole before calling it quits.

“It’s one less hole to worry about,” said Woods. “I thought there was plenty of light to play.

“It’s been a long day.”

The day seemed as if it would never start, then seemed as if it would never end. There’s a long way to go in this tournament, possibly as far as Monday, if the fog comes back today as expected. The plan is to send everyone out at 7:30 a.m., finish the third round, send them back out right away without re-pairing the field and try to get it done before the fog takes over.

With Woods 31 holes removed from what could be his first full-field stroke-play victory since the 2003 Western Open, chances seem remote for getting it done by this afternoon. Not much can go wrong today if the tournament is to end on time.

“We haven’t got much of a window, maybe an hour or so,” said Mark Russell, the PGA Tour’s tournament director.

Russell said that if half the field finishes the final round, whenever it is played, then the round must be completed, even if that means playing Tuesday.

“But that might be a decision that the commissioner might get involved in,” he added.

This tournament has never had a Monday finish in its 53-year history, although it has been shortened to 54 holes three times.

Lonard and Luke Donald are three shots behind Woods and Lehman at 11 under. Ernie Els, David Sutherland and Dudley Hart are tied at 10 under, all of them through five holes.

Charles Howell III, who was four under through nine holes, is five shots behind Woods at nine under.

Moving in the other direction is Phil Mickelson, who was four over through 11 holes and 13 shots off the lead.

No one finished the third round, but at least everybody managed to finish the second round. For some, even that news wasn’t good.

Dean Wilson was a little foggy Saturday morning. He finished his second round, the one left over from Friday, and went to the scoring tent with a 75. The problem was, he left the tent without signing his scorecard and was disqualified.

Because Wilson, who shot a first-round 63, was six under at the time, his goof probably will cost him a lot of money, as the only other West Coast tournaments he can enter because of his status are Pebble Beach and Tucson.

Justin Leonard did a classy thing Saturday morning. His 74-71 was one over and the cut was two under.

Certain to miss the cut with one hole left in his carryover second round from Friday, Leonard birdied the last hole, finished his round, then packed up and left.

“But just think about how much momentum I have going into next week,” he said.