Harrington takes lead, rains suspends play
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PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL - FEBRUARY 28: The 18th green is under water as play is suspended for the day due to severe weather during the third round of The Honda Classic at PGA National Resort & Spa - Champion Course on February 28, 2015 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) -- Padraig Harrington is a 36-hole leader on the PGA TOUR for the first time in nearly five years and he knows he has a long way to go.
A vicious storm Saturday at The Honda Classic made his weekend even longer.
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.
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.
"That's as bad as I've ever seen it rain," Russell Knox of Scotland said after a 68 left him four shots behind.
THE HONDA CLASSIC: Harrington takes 36-hole lead | Leaderboard | Tee times | Video | Weather hub | The Upshot
Only 24 players completed a hole 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. The tournament now is to end on Monday.
"We've got pretty much a mess," said Slugger White, the TOUR's vice president of competition.
It helps that the next event is a World Golf Championship-Cadillic Championship about a 90-minute drive down the highway at Doral, and there is no pro-am.
Harrington, the three-time major champion from Ireland, has fallen to No. 297 in the Official World Golf Ranking and couldn't qualify for Doral even if he were to win. He won the Indonesian Open on the Asian Tour at the end of last year, ending a four-year drought dating to another Asian Tour event.
His last PGA TOUR victory was his second straight major, the 2008 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills. He said the benefit of playing Indonesia was a boost to his confidence, on and off the golf course. At such a small tournament, his name resonates.
"They treat you like a star, you play like a star," he said. "I'm back to being a three-time major winner. I went for that reason -- to give my ego a boost. There's definitely a lot to being a big fish in a small pond."