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Honda Gets Washing; Tourney Will Conclude Monday
The PGA National golf course in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida took another whipping Saturday and it wasn’t from the PGA Tour players in The Honda Classic, it was from Mother Nature. After three days and numerous weather interruptions the tournament finally concluded its second round with Padraig Harrington in the lead.
The third round ended 51 minutes after it started because of a storm that packed 50 mph gusts and dumped about 5 inches of rain on PGA National. The storm was so severe that it created an air bubble on the 18th green the size of a sea turtle, caused the sides of bunkers to cave in and toppled an electronic scoreboard off a platform and down to the bottom of a lake.
Harrington made six birdies in the 12 holes he played Saturday morning in the rain-delayed tournament to complete a 4-under 66 and take a one-shot lead over Patrick Reed, with Ian Poulter and Brendan Steele another shot behind.
Only 24 players completed a hole in the third round before the storm arrived, causing the third delay of the week. The plan was to return at 10 a.m. Sunday to resume the round, and continue with the same pairings to play as much as possible on Sunday, but the final round is now scheduled for Monday.
Daniel Summerhays didn’t see any action on Saturday and remains in tenth place with scores of 71-68-139. Zac Blair is tied for 25th with scores of 71-71-142.
Tony Finau missed the cut by four shots with scores of 74-73-147, but he was in good company. Rory McIlroy also shot 147 on rounds of 73-74. Other big name players to miss the cut included Justin Rose, Zach Johnson, Graham McDowell, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Jhonattan Vegas, Angel Cabrera, Bo Van Pelt, Graham DeLaet, Vijay Singh, Sang Moon Bae, Dustin Johnson, Charl Schwartzel, and Colt Knost.
The PGA Tour is helped by the luck of the schedule since the next event doesn’t require a day of travel. It is the World Golf Championship at Doral Country Club, just a 90-minute drive and there is no pro-am scheduled at that event.