Rain pushes back St. Jude final round to Monday

Jose Maria Olazabal is honest about his chances of winning the St. Jude Classic. He says he doesn't have any.

The reigning Masters champion cruised around the Tournament Players Club at Southwind course Sunday, making eight birdies on 14 holes before heavy rain forced postponement of the final round.

Play resumed this morning under an overcast sky.

Olazabal sits atop the leaderboard at 15-under par, but six golfers are just a stroke behind and all have at least 14 holes left to play.

With the greens softened by all the rain, Olazabal expects someone in that group or perhaps one of the 28 other players within five shots of him will get hot and pass him.

"I don't think I have any chance to win," Olazabal said. ``I mean, I will have to birdie maybe the last four holes, but that's not being very realistic."

The group one shot behind Olazabal includes Omar Uresti, Rick Fehr and the four third-round leaders-- Hal Sutton, Tom Lehman, Ted Tryba and Tim Herron.

Brett Quigley is alone at 13-under and seven golfers are at 12-under, including David Frost, who tied a PGA Tour and St. Jude record by shooting a 16-under 126 that gave him a four-stroke lead after two rounds. He ballooned to a 3-over 74 on Saturday.

On Sunday, Frost bogeyed No. 1 and was on the third hole when play was suspended. He's glad to have another day to try to find his game and perfect the new swing he adopted this week.

"I think it would have been a little unfair to send the guys back out under these conditions," he said. "The other guys (who played earlier) played under different conditions."

When play was suspended, 24 of the 76 players had completed their rounds. Those still on the course will pick up where they left off.

Tryba and Herron, the last twosome of the day, had just teed off on No. 1. Sutton and Lehman were just ahead of them, Uresti was on No. 2 and Fehr had completed three holes.

Olazabal said he's not sure who might emerge from that pack.

"Anybody up there can score really well," he said. ``They have been playing well all week long. And if they keep on playing the same way (today), they will score low."

Olazabal did not figure to be in the mix. He started Sunday seven shots behind the leaders after shooting a disappointing third-round 70. He played the front nine in 32 and made five consecutive birdies, starting at the par-4 2nd.

He made a tricky 18-foot birdie putt after getting a fortuitous bounce onto the green at the 231-yard, par-3 14th, then hit a perfect drive on the par-4 15th when the horn sounded indicating lightning was in the area.

"Today was a wonderful round," said Olazabal, adding that playing with fellow Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez helped relax him. "I really hit quite a lot of good shots, made a few good putts, and that's why I managed to score 8-under-par."

A few minutes after play was suspended, the skies opened. Nearly two inches of rain fell in 30 minutes, flooding bunkers and turning the 18th fairway into a duck pond.

The delay caused problems for Olazabal and the other players entered in the U.S. Open later this week. Many had planned to fly out of Memphis on Sunday night and practice on the course in Pinehurst, N.C., on Monday.

Tryba, whose best finish this year was second at the Nissan Open, said the chance to win his second career PGA Tour event makes the delay worthwhile.

"I've played well for 54 holes," he said. ``I want to play 72 and win a golf tournament."

If more rain falls today, tournament officials say they may be forced to hold a playoff among the four third-round leaders. The last PGA Tour tournament that was delayed to the following Monday was the 1997 Memorial Tournament.

The St. Jude, sponsored by FedEx, has a $2.5 million purse and $450,000 winner's check.

AP