Leaders must wait as storms halt US PGA

Justin Rose and his fellow leading contenders at Oakland Hills will have to negotiate 36 holes on the final day to become the 90th US PGA champion, after play was abandoned tonight.

Championship officials suspended play for the day at 11.30pm Irish Time, more than four hours after the first of many thunderstorms in the Detroit area brought a halt with only 25 of the 73-man field having completed their third rounds.

Halfway leader JB Holmes and the rest of the leading three pairings – Charlie Wi, Rose, Ben Curtis, David Toms and Henrik Stenson – had not even started their rounds when play was finally called off.

Graeme McDowell, Andres Romero and Camilo Villegas had all made charges towards the top of the leaderboard at Oakland Hills before the rain brought a halt to the action.

Argentina’s Romero started the third round at seven under par – eight shots back on overnight, midway leader Holmes – while both Colombia’s Villegas and Northern Irishman McDowell teed off at six over.

After a difficult opening two days’ play on the tough and unforgiving par-70 course, all three got on track at Oakland Hills – before the threat of rain called a halt.

Romero rattled in seven birdies and just two bogeys on his way to a five-under, course-record-equalling 65 to move to two over for the tournament. Villegas was four under for his round, one over for the tournament after 14 holes.

McDowell, a two-time European Tour winner this year had begun with birdies at the par-five second and the par-four sixth – which tournament officials shortened from 387 yards following the second round, measuring 285 yards to the front of the green and 318 yards to the hole.

McDowell was at two over for the week, having played 15 holes – four under for the day in a round that included an eagle three at the 12th.

Rose was just one shot off the lead in the final major of the year following a second-round, three-under-par 67 that moved him to even par for the tournament.

The Englishman had been due to tee off in the second-from-last pairing with 2003 Open champion Curtis at 7.30pm Irish Time. But the forecast of numerous showers and thunderstorms across the region proved correct, and play was suspended at 7.16pm.

When the rain came it was brief but torrential – and just as groundskeepers worked to clear surface water, the showers returned as dark skies remained more than two hours after the suspension was called.

Another wave of storms hit the Detroit area at 10pm Irish Time.

The third round had got under way under mostly sunny skies.

With the cut coming last night at eight-over-par, 73 golfers remain in the championship.

England’s Paul Casey, though, insisted after the second round that anyone surviving the cut had a chance at victory.

Casey, seven strokes off the halfway lead, believes the severity of the par-70, 7,395-yard course and the forecast gusting winds leave the contest wide open.

“I honestly think anyone making the cut right now has still got a chance,” Casey said following his second-round, four-over-par 74 that left him at six over for the tournament heading into the weekend.

“Those going out in the morning with the better greens can post a number, and there is no reason why they can’t get close to the lead.

“I was close to the cut at The Open and finished tied for seventh. I don’t see why you can’t do the same here.

“The guys at the top know how tough it can be – and while they have played great golf to get there, they need to play well to stay at the top.”

Yet while McDowell, Romero and Villegas were putting Casey’s theory to the test, the man himself bogeyed the par-four first to slip back to seven over before steadying with pars for the rest of his front nine.

There was another bogey at the 11th, and Casey was two over for his round after 14 holes when play was suspended.

Ian Poulter looked to be on course for nightmare third round when he opened with a double-bogey six at the first but bounced back with three birdies – a bogey at the fifth keeping him at even for the round and five over for the tournament.