Tiger Woods continued his superb play in the inaugural FedEx Cup playoff series on Thursday by going four-under through 11 holes as the PGA Tour Championship was hit by a lengthy rain delay.
Officials halted play at 7pm because of darkness with just 10 of the 30-man field having completed the first round.
Woods trails clubhouse leader Tim Clark by four strokes but more importantly he didn't skip a beat during Thursday's rain delay and kept himself in contention for the FedEx Cup title in the fourth and final playoff event.
PHOTO: AP
The 13-time major winner and world No 1 came out with plenty of fire, making birdie on the first three holes. He also birdied holes six and nine on the soggy East Lake Golf Club course.
"I made a couple of putts," Woods said. "I don't know how. I hit them up there and they bounced all over the place and somehow went in."
Clark fired a eight-under 62, grabbing the clubhouse lead by rolling in six birdies and an eagle on the 15th hole.
The 31-year-old South African played a limited schedule in the early part of the season due to a neck injury but had a strong finish which got him into this event.
He also had a share of the 36-hole lead at the Masters Tournament in April before finishing in 13th.
"I had a bit more confidence coming in here," Clark said. "I got the speed of the greens and was able to make some putts."
Ireland's Padraig Harrington is second in the clubhouse behind Clark, making birdie on his final four holes to move to seven-under 63.
Defending Tour Championship winner Adam Scott of Australia was four-under through 13 holes.
This year the Tour Championship is being used to determine the winner of the FedEx Cup playoffs which includes US$10 million in first-place deferred prize money.
The top 30 players in FedExCup points also secure a return trip to Atlanta next year to compete in the Masters Tournament.
Organizers sounded the horn to signal the delay at about 2:15pm after Woods, who teed off in the last group in the afternoon, had just hit his approach on the first hole.
The East Lake course was still dry when Woods headed off to the clubhouse about 30 minutes before the afternoon downpour struck.
That's when the sky turned dark only to be illuminated by the crackle of lightning.
Upon his return, after an over three-hour delay, Woods made the 3m birdie putt while Stricker, who is second in FedEx Cup standings, parred the hole.
Woods said the greens changed during the 185 minute delay that saw 1.3cm of rain soak into the ground.
"The conditions were soft and the greens were interesting," Woods said.
Clark said he spent the long delay catching up with friends on the tour.
"We just sat around and chatted," Clark said. "We only had a half hour to get ready once they told us to play."
Earlier in the week officials took the unusual step of cancelling the Pro-Am and restricting practice at the course because of a heatwave that left the greens parched.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but