Rain halts Buick Classic after Baird extends lead

Tiger Woods playfully slapped a ball at Shigeki Maruyama's feet and planted himself next to leader Briny Baird on the driving range.

That was as close as the eight-time major champion got to Baird on Saturday in the rain-suspended third round of the Buick Classic. Winless since late March, Woods had a bogey and six pars in seven holes before play was suspended, leaving him six strokes behind Baird -- 11 under through six holes on the saturated Westchester Country Club course.

"It's going to be a long day tomorrow," Woods said. "Hopefully, I can play a little better and improve my chances."

Play was suspended for the day at about 3pm after a two-hour delay, the second of the round. The round began on schedule at 8:10am, but was delayed for 1 hour, 16 minutes because of lightning before the leaders teed off.

"We got lucky for two days, but when it started raining today we knew it wouldn't take much to put us out of business," Slugger White, the PGA Tour's tournament director, said. With more rain expected Sunday on the course soaked by 20cm of rain in the last three weeks, the event could finish on a Monday for the second time in three years.

"We've got a good forecast for Monday," White said. "We can go to Tuesday, but we can't go any further than Tuesday. Let's hope we don't get that far."

Baird, the son of Champions Tour player Butch Baird, is trying to win for the first time in four seasons on the PGA Tour. He birdied the par-5 fifth hole to reach 11 under, putting him two strokes ahead of playing partner Skip Kendall.