Curtis confident but cautious

Ben Curtis played down talk of an easy victory in the Booz Allen Classic despite being eight stokes clear when bad weather called a halt to the final round in Maryland.

Curtis, looking for his first win since the 2003 Open, had widened his lead with seven holes to play before the threat of lightning suspended the final round.

Play will resume on Monday with Curtis well ahead of Pádraig Harrington, who had played 13 holes, and there are 46 players still to complete their rounds.

“I don’t want to go to sleep like I’ve got it won because I still have six-and-a-half holes to go,” Curtis said.

“It’s not going to be easy, but I have to go to bed confident and know that I can do it.”

PGA Tour rules official Mark Russell said: “It was unbelievable we got to play what we did because south-east of here and north-west of here, they were getting an inch-and-a-half of rain an hour. It was incredible.”

Curtis began the day five shots ahead of Brett Quigley and extended his lead with four birdies on the front nine of the par-71, 6,987-yard TPC at Avenel.

He is currently 23 under par, which would be a tournament record.

After winning The Open, Curtis had only one top-10 finish in 2004 and missed the cut in 11 of 20 starts.

Last season was no better as he started with nine missed cuts in his first 10 events and totalled 16 of 24 overall.

After two top-four finishes last year, Curtis had finished no better than 20th this season – until arriving here, where he has run away from the field.

He opened with a 62 on Thursday – one off the course record – and has only one bogey in his first 65 holes, a six at the par-five 13th hole on Friday.

He is on target for the £500,000 (€726,729) first prize and a welcome two-year exemption.

Harrington, who finished a season-best fifth at last week’s US Open, had three birdies and an eagle at the par-five sixth hole to gain sole possession of second place.

Among the five players at 14 under, Billy Andrade is six under for the round with one hole remaining, while Steve Stricker – who won this event in 1996 when it was known as the Kemper Open – has seven holes to play.

Quigley, with seven holes to play, is at one over for the round and in a tie with Robert Allenby at 13-under.