GOLF SINGAPORE OPEN:ADAM SCOTT held a three-shot lead when the final round of the Singapore Open was halted by darkness yesterday, the Australian now having to wait until today to try to become the event's first three-times winner.
Play was initially suspended just before noon due to thunderstorms and lightning, and resumed more than five-and-a-half hours later in drizzly rain and fading light at the Sentosa Golf Club.
Organisers decided to send the players back out despite having little more than 90 minutes of daylight left and said play would continue early today to find a winner. Scott, back-to-back winner in 2005 and 2006, was on 17-under-par after eight holes when darkness descended on the Serapong course and leads defending champion Ian Poulter by three shots.
South Korean Kang Kyung-nam is in third place on 13-under with US Open winner Graeme McDowell tied for fourth with Anders Hansen a shot further back. Scott said the lengthy rain delay had been frustrating but he was in a good frame of mind for the late finish.
“I don’t mind a Monday finish as I have nothing else to do, I am leading a tournament. It is a good position to sleep on,” he said. “We were talking about cars and eating during the rain delay. We also watched the Manny Pacquiao fight. If I can last the distance like him and win on points it would be good.”
Poulter was happy with his game and said he still had the title in his sights. “I am playing well enough and hitting good enough golf shots. I have 10 holes to claw back that deficit but that’s fine,” he said. “I can do that.”
The $6 million co-sanctioned Asian and European Tour event has regularly fallen victim to bad weather delays. It was hit by a four-hour delay in Thursday’s opening round, which forced 108 players to return early on Friday to finish their first 18 holes before starting their second round.
However, the storm that disrupted play yesterday had been unusual, said Chris Jordan, senior vice-president of organisers World Sports Group. “This thing (storm) has sat on top of us and not gone anywhere, so this is very unusual,” Jordan said, adding that the outlook for today was for clouds and scattered showers. “It’s looking slighty better than today. I’m not going to say I’m confident – I’m just hopeful.” There was more bad news for Masters champion Phil Mickelson, who tumbled down the leaderboard on Saturday with an ugly eight on his final hole.
The American left-hander had returned to his hotel during yesterday’s rain delay and was assessed a two-shot penalty after returning late for the restart. “We believe that he heard something from someone in the club, which led him to believe that play had been called for the day,” European Tour chief referee John Paramor said. “It is unfortunate, but it was just a misunderstanding.”
