McDowell battling for lead at Sawgrass

Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell and Luke Donald were all battling for the lead in the £4.5million Players Championship at Sawgrass in Florida today after further weather delays.

With five holes to play in his second round – the tournament was a complete day behind schedule – Westwood stood 10 under par and one behind American Zach Johnson in the sport’s richest event.

McDowell, who qualified to play only by climbing into the world’s top 50 with his second-place finish in the Bay Hill Invitational last Sunday, was joint third two shots further back after a spectacular burst through the field.

The Ulsterman equalled the best back nine of the week so far, a five-under 31, and then collected further birdies at the second and third.

Donald, meanwhile, sank a bunker shot at the 177-yard third and improved to seven under and joint seventh.

At that point half the 146-strong field, including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Padraig Harrington, had not even started their rounds and were resigned to having to come back at daybreak on Sunday to finish off.

But with more thunderstorms in the forecast the odds on a Monday or even Tuesday climax to the race for the £800,000 first prize were coming down all the time.

Only 44 minutes’ play was possible on Friday and with officials deciding that placing of the ball was now necessary on the saturated fairways the second round began all over again.

After just over three and a half hours’ play it was halted for a further three hours, but the break did not affect Westwood or McDowell, both trying to be the first European winner since Sandy Lyle in 1987.

Westwood had four birdies and a double-bogey in eight holes before the hold-up, but when he resumed he saved par with an 18-foot putt on the long ninth, then splashed out of sand to 18 inches for another birdie at the 535-yard 11th.

The suspension of play came just as Right Approach, the horse he has a third share in, was finishing third at the Dubai World Cup meeting. That brought a reward of £145,000 for the owners, but Westwood has now given himself a great chance to earn far more.

McDowell could easily have birdied the first seven holes he played, missing only a four-footer on the 11th and a six-footer at the 15th.

Returning after the stoppage, he scrambled a par with a 14-foot putt on the 18th – the hole where Vijay Singh had earlier put two balls in the lake for a quadruple-bogey eight when lying fourth – and then closed in on Johnson, like himself making his debut in the event.

David Howell and Paul Casey were heading out of the event at three over and one over respectively, but a birdie at the short eighth, his 17th, lifted Darren Clarke to one under and right on the expected cut-off mark.

Justin Rose appeared to have little chance of making it after his opening 77 on Thursday, but he had a hat-trick of birdies from the 16th to turn in 32, then birdied the second and third as well to be six under for the day and one under overall.

Rose, though, needs second place at worst to have a chance of qualifying for the Masters in two weeks.

Harrington, second the last two years and winner of his last US Tour event two weeks ago, was right at the end of the field and was unlikely even to reach the turn before darkness. He resumed five under.