Ogilvy Leads As Woods Struggles Ahead of the Rain at Doral

Miami, FL (Sports Network) – Geoff Ogilvy did enough to fend off a surging Adam Scott, while Tiger Woods struggled to keep pace before rain brought an early end to the third round of the CA Championship on Saturday.

Ogilvy was 14-under through 11 holes for a one-shot lead on Scott, with Woods among a group of three players who were three shots back at Doral when play was suspended.

Woods was the only player at or near the top of the leaderboard who didn’t take advantage of favorable scoring conditions ahead of the expected bad weather.

And he never got a chance to turn it around.

Play was stopped at 1:15 p.m. (et) as a large swath of storms approached the area, despite the decision Friday night to move tee times up with the hopes of getting the round in.

It began to rain when the final group of Woods, Ogilvy and Scott were lining up their putts on the 11th green.

The slow-moving system smothered southern Florida the rest of the afternoon, and the decision to suspend play for the day came just before 4:30. It will resume Sunday morning at 8:30 a.m. with the final round expected to begin around 11:30.

Only then will we know whether or not Woods will extend his monthslong winning streak.

The world’s No. 1 player hasn’t lost since the Deutsche Bank Championship in early September — a run of seven total tournaments, including the unofficial Target World Challenge and the European Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic.

Woods won his first three starts this season on the PGA Tour, including last week’s dramatic victory at Bay Hill, after winning his final two last season.

Add to that his position as the three-time defending champion at this World Golf Championship — which he has won six times — and Woods casts the nearest thing to an unbeatable shadow there is in golf.

Yet his considerable momentum stalled Saturday morning in conditions favorable for its propagation.

He missed short putts on his first two holes, including a three-footer for par at the second, and his only birdie before the bad weather came on a three-foot putt at the seventh.

Meanwhile, the Australians in his group were thriving.

Scott caught and passed Ogilvy for the lead by going four-under on his first five holes, beginning the run with a 15-foot eagle putt at the first. He rolled in a 20-foot birdie putt at the third, and his 26-footer for birdie at the fifth moved him to 13-under for a one-shot lead.

The hot start gave way to a lukewarm stretch of six consecutive pars for Scott, while Ogilvy made short birdie putts at the seventh and ninth holes to move back ahead by a stroke.

Behind them, players were catching up to Woods.

Tim Clark made birdie on five of his first seven holes, then two more later in the round to tie Woods at 11-under ahead of the weather.

Vijay Singh used an eagle at the 12th and three birdies on the next four holes to also tie Woods. He was looking at a seven-foot birdie putt at the 17th when play was suspended.

Six more players were within six shots of the lead, including Jim Furyk, who was 10-under through 13 holes; Retief Goosen, who was nine-under through 13; and K.J. Choi, who was eight-under through 14.

They will all be looking up at Ogilvy when the round resumes Sunday morning, as the Australian tries to win for the first time since his surprising victory at the 2006 U.S. Open.

“It’s frustrating when it’s like this,” Ogilvy said of the weather delay. “It means a very long day tomorrow.”

03/22 16:48:15 ET