Pack closes in on Bohn
Jason Bohn saw his lead trimmed to three shots as the rain-delayed third round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans belatedly got under way.
Heavy rain and lightning at TPC Louisiana had forced the suspension of the second round on Friday with only 47 golfers having played 36 holes and it took the rest of the field, including first-round leader Bohn, until today to catch up.
Bohn had opened with a seven-under-par 65 for a two-shot lead and, having been forced to wait until Saturday morning to start his second round, the American extended his advantage to four strokes after closing with three birdies in a row for a six-birdie, one-bogey 67.
Bohn then went straight back out for his third round at 12 under with Australian John Senden and American Jeff Overton his closest competition after they both carded three-under-par 69s to finish at eight under.
His birdie run ended at the opening hole of his third outing though, as he bogeyed the first as England’s Greg Owen moved to nine under with two birdies in a row at the start of his round.
Owen opened with a 67 and was bogey free in his second round – and two under for the day – as he waited to begin the 18th before play was suspended on Friday. He resumed to par that final hole and started the third round at seven under, alongside fellow Englishman Brian Davis, Germany’s Alex Cejka and American veteran Lee Janzen.
Having got to nine under, though, Owen gave a shot back at the par-four sixth and when play was called for the night due to poor light, the Englishman was eight under after eight holes.
Bohn, meanwhile, recovered with a birdie at the second and after six holes was back at 12 under par, three shots in front of Australian Greg Chalmers, three under for his round after seven holes, and Cejka.
“It’s going to be another long day,” Bohn said as he looked ahead to tomorrow’s play.
“I think, I have 30 holes to play tomorrow so we’ve just got to stay patient.
“That is the thing. You have to wait for your opportunities out here.”
Owen was in a five-way tie for fourth with Senden, Overton and his compatriots Kevin Sutherland and Shaun Micheel.
Davis, runner-up last week to Jim Furyk at the Verizon Heritage having called a penalty on himself in a sudden death play-off, had so far failed to build on his six-under, second-round 66, dropping a shot after six holes to six under.
Swedish duo Mathias Gronberg and Daniel Chopra were at five under after 11 and 14 holes respectively while Janzen had fallen back into a group on four under after three bogeys in his opening six holes.
European Ryder Cup team-mates Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia were both at two under and level par for their third rounds after 14 holes but Argentina’s Andres Romero, the 2008 champion, had dropped three shots to one under after 11 holes.
Having made his fifth successive cut, former Open and US PGA champion John Daly was one over for his third round after 10 holes at level par for the week when darkness fell.
