SPRINGFIELD, N.J. -- Stormy weather pushed back the finish of the 87th PGA Championship until Monday.
Phil Mickelson holds the lead at four-under par through 13 holes in the final round. Steve Elkington, the 1995 PGA Champion, is one stroke back through 15 and he shares second place with Thomas Bjorn. The Dane has finished 14 holes.
Despite being 2-over through 13, Phil Mickelson still holds a one stroke lead heading into Monday’s finish.
Two-time PGA Champion Tiger Woods is the leader in the clubhouse at two-under- par 278 at Baltusrol Golf Club.
Defending champion Vijay Singh is also at minus-two through 15 holes. Davis Love III, the 1997 PGA winner, is minus-two through 13 holes.
There was a 39-minute weather delay during Sunday’s round. Play was stopped at 6:37 p.m. (et) as more bad weather rolled into the area. Officials suspended play for the night a short time later and announced the final round will resume Monday morning at 10:00 a.m.
U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell is one stroke behind Woods at minus-one. He shot one-under 69 in the final round and he was tied there by Geoff Ogilvy, who also closed with a 69.
Retief Goosen, a two-time U.S. Open winner also stands at minus-one through 16 holes.
Woods got off to a rough start at the first when he went over the first green and that led to bogey. Then at the third, he lost his drive left into the trees and bogeyed that hole.
The No. 1 player in the game chipped in for par at the seventh after taking an unplayable lie as his drive came to rest under a tree. The first weather delay came as Woods was walking off the tee at seven and before the final two pairings had even teed off.
Woods got one stroke back with a short birdie putt on the eighth. He dropped in a birdie try on 14 to get back to even-par for the day and for the tournament.
The 29-year-old knocked his second shot over the green with an iron at the massive 650-yard par-five 17th. Woods got up and down for birdie to get into red figures at minus-one for the first time all week.
Woods also knocked his second shot over the green at the par-five last. He pitched within six feet and sank that for birdie to close at two-under.
‘I did not get off to a very good start again today,’ Woods said. ‘I was two- over early and made it there on seven, some miracle fluke shot that should have been about 20 feet past, but went in, so I got lucky. From there I really played some good golf. I wish I would have gotten off to a better start. This golf course ain’t easy, especially the first seven holes.’
Mickelson was having a tough day, mostly with his putter and his driver. He knocked his tee shot into the trees at the first, but managed to knock his second on the green, where he two-putted for par.
He left his approach shots short at the next two holes and walked away with pars both times. At the par-three fourth, Mickelson sank a difficult birdie putt to get to minus-seven. Things fell apart from there though.
Mickelson missed a six-foot par putt on six and then missed another short par putt at seven to slip to minus-five.
Elkington, who parred his first eight holes, moved to five-under and a share of the lead with an 18-foot birdie try on the ninth.
Mickelson missed the green at the par-three ninth and that led to the third bogey of his round.
The Australian Elkington playing ahead of Mickelson hit a poor chip shot at the 10th and that led to his first bogey. Elkington slipped into a tie for the lead at minus-four with Mickelson.
The 2004 Masters champion missed the fairway off the 10th tee with a 3-wood. His second came up short of the green and he could not save par either. Mickelson dropped to minus-three, one shot behind Elkington.
Elkington extended his lead to two with a chip-in birdie at the 11th to get to five-under. Mickelson stayed two shot back with a pars on 11 and 12.
The big swing was the 13th hole. Elkington three-putted for bogey, while Mickelson dropped in a 12-foot birdie putt to create a tie for the lead at minus-four.
Elkington parred 14, then missed the fairway at 15. He had a bad stance on the side of a fairway bunker and pulled his second shot left of the green. He was unable to save par from there to slip to minus-three.
Mickelson missed the fairway at 14 and had a terrible lie in the rough. He somehow managed to knocked his second within nine feet of the cup. The 35- year-old missed that putt.
Love, who like Mickelson had a par putt from within six feet at the 14th, stopped Mickelson as he read his par putt. Love saw lightning flash and told Mickelson to mark his ball. Within seconds, officials blew the horns to stop play.
‘I felt like the course was playing tremendously harder,’ Mickelson said. ‘Every bogey that I made, I put myself in the proper spot to get up and down and I just didn’t get up and down on some of those holes. So I don’t feel like there were any spots where I couldn’t save par or wasted a shot. I felt like I hit a few good shots towards the end there and we have got some birdie holes coming in.’
Elkington is playing in the season’s final major for the first time since 2002. Along with his win at Riviera in 1995, Elkington shared third at Valhalla in 1996 and finished third in 1998 at Sahalee.
‘It’s a shame obviously that we didn’t get to finish, but I didn’t really want to play the last three holes into the wind either,’ Elkington said. ‘It was a bit of a to and fro situation going on out there with about three or four players, and it’s a shame that the crowds didn’t get to see the finish.’
Love had plenty of trouble of his own on Sunday. He knocked his tee ball into the trees on three and that led to a bogey. The 41-year-old had a difficult birdie putt on four and ran it well past the cup. He missed the come-backer and walked away with his second straight bogey.
The 18-time winner on the PGA Tour missed the green long at five and bogeyed that. Love stemmed the bad tide with a par on the sixth. He missed the fairway left at the seventh and managed to save bogey from 15 feet out.
Love finally got one stroke back with a birdie on the 10th. However, he dropped another stroke at the next.
Singh, who parred the first 17 holes before birdieing the last on Saturday, three-putted his way to a double-bogey on three to slip to minus-two. He again three-putted four for another bogey. He got one stroke back with a birdie on the eighth. Singh parred his next seven holes before weather halted play for the night.
Ted Purdy posted the best round of the day Sunday as he closed with a four- under 66. He moved into a tie for 10th at even-par 280. Purdy was tied there by Steve Flesch (70), Dudley Hart (71) and 2001 PGA Champion David Toms (68).
Pat Perez also stands at even-par, as he has completed 14 holes in the final round. There are five other players remaining on the course. Of those five, Stuart Appleby is closest to the leaders at one-over par.
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