Rain threat forces Tour Championship third round to start early
The threat of continued storms on Saturday has forced PGA Tour officials to bump up tee times for the third round of the Tour Championship by two-and-a-half hours.
Henrik Stenson ended Round 2 with an expanded lead, going from two on Thursday to three on Friday, but now over world No. 3 Jordan Spieth instead of Englishman Paul Casey, who dropped into solo third. The 2013 FedEx Cup winner posted a 36-hole total of 9-under 131, while Spieth’s Friday-best 66 got him to 6-under 134.
Both Stenson and Spieth entered the FedEx Cup finale inside the top five in the points standings, meaning both players — as well Jason Day, Rickie Fowler and Bubba Watson — can win the season-long race and its $10 million first-place prize if they win the Tour Championship. Fowler leads the three members of the top five not in Saturday’s final group, sitting eight shots behind Stenson. Day trails by nine and Watson is 10 back of the lead.
Despite softer conditions on Friday, several players said host East Lake Golf Club played harder than Thursday because the course was longer from tee to green, forcing players to hit more long irons into receptive hole locations.
“I’m not a great fan of the rain,” said Casey. “That’s why I live in Arizona. I lost control of a couple of the longer clubs in the bag.”
Casey and the remaining 27 players in the field can expect similar difficulty in holding onto the club on Saturday, especially in the Bermuda grass rough, in particular around the greens.
“The hardest part was just around the greens in the rough,” said Spieth. “When it’s wet, it can be diabolical sometimes.”
Stenson, who shot 2-under 68 on Friday, said there’s no use in complaining.
“t doesn’t really matter what we like or not like,” he said, “I’m just going to pull up the curtains and see what we got tomorrow.”
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
