Storm cuts short third round

Mark Calcavecchia finally made a mistake today. Unfortunately for those chasing him in the rain-soaked Phoenix Open, it wasn't on the golf course.

Calcavecchia forgot his mittens, but remembered to bring his game for a storm-shortened third round that ended for him after only eight holes with Calcavecchia still holding a five-shot lead over Scott Verplank.

Keeping his hands warm with a pair of mismatched mittens borrowed from a maintenance worker, Calcavecchia made two more birdies before lightning and hail finally forced the round to be suspended at 7:05 p.m. EST.

Tournament officials said the round would resume at 10 a.m. EST Sunday, with the fourth round starting an hour later. Players will not be regrouped for the final round, but instead will tee off immediately after completing round three in order to expedite play. Without more rain, they said, the tournament could be concluded Sunday.

"Once the rain stopped, it wasn't really bad at all,'' Calcavecchia said. "Everybody else is out there in the same stuff.''

Calcavecchia left his ball sitting in the first cut of the rough off the ninth fairway when lightning moved in to cap a miserable day of weather at the TPC of Scottsdale course.

He's playing so well he can hardly wait to go out and hit it Sunday.

"Should be just a nice 8-iron,'' he said. "I would love to just put that baby down there and throw it in close tomorrow and get off to a good start again.''

Calcavecchia, who shot a 60 on Friday, was 19 under for the tournament, five ahead of Verplank and a half dozen in front of Rocco Mediate.

Tiger Woods was 13 shots back after playing 17 holes today in 2 under to get to 6 under for the tournament. His streak of 52 consecutive rounds of par or better in PGA Tour events came to an end Friday when he struggled to a 2-over 73.

Playing the back nine first, Woods gave the estimated 78,000 fans who braved the rain and cold something to cheer about early when he made back-to-back birdies on the 13th and 14th holes. With the crowd urging him on, Woods appeared ready to mount one of his comeback charges.

But Woods couldn't birdie the par-5 15th hole, and slammed his 3-wood into his bag in frustration after he hooked his tee shot into a waste area on the 17th hole and ended up making bogey.

Woods, who started the week with a 65, has not won in his last four PGA Tour starts, and that streak is certain to be extended to five at the conclusion of this tournament. The last time he finished more than 13 shots back in a tournament was the 1998 Tour Championship.

Calcavecchia, meanwhile, was as relaxed as he was a day earlier as he added to the streak of 16 birdies in his last 24 holes with a birdie putt on the first hole.

Calcavecchia was never in any trouble through eight holes, making two birdies against six pars.

"Nobody's going to get wound up overnight because we didn't get a chance to finish,'' he said. "It will be fun playing 27 tomorrow.''

Calcavecchia forgot gloves to keep his hands warm, and ended up using a mismatched set borrowed from a maintenance worker. On one hole, he held them to his ears to keep warm, but said the conditions were not as bad as they appeared.

"The only bad part was it was so slow,'' he said. "It took us three hours to play the front nine, so there was a lot of standing around trying to keep warm.''

Standing in the caddie area before the round, Calcavecchia said he just wanted to make pars, with an occasional birdie thrown in.

"I know what it's like when it's cold and nasty here,'' he said.

Verplank and Mediate, playing with Calcavecchia, got within four shots of the lead early but no closer. Mediate knocked in a wedge on the par-5 third hole for an eagle.

"I'm ecstatic to be in the middle of the ninth fairway in this position,'' Mediate said. "I never really played good in cold weather.''

DIVOTS: The rain and cold cut into attendance, which tournament officials had thought might reach 130,000 today. The crowd was estimated at 78,000 when the third round began shortly after noon, but soon after a steady rain started falling and much of the crowd left. ... Three of the 36 players left on the course because of darkness Friday withdrew rather than come back and finish their rounds. Dennis Paulson, Jeff Gove, and Garrett Willis had little chance of making the cut even if they finished. ... Players were allowed in today's third round to lift, clean and replace balls in the fairway because of the soggy conditions.

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