Ireland's Padraig Harrington completed a four-under par 66 Saturday to seize a one-stroke lead over American Patrick Reed after the second round of the storm-hit US PGA Tour's Honda Classic.
Thunderstorms on Friday pushed the conclusion of the second round to Saturday morning and they returned Saturday afternoon to swamp the course at PGA National, wiping out play early.
Only 24 of the 71 players who made the cut managed to complete a hole Saturday before high winds and heavy rain struck, pushing the resumption of round three to Sunday morning and setting up a bid for a 36-hole marathon finish in order to complete the event on time.
Harrington, a three-time major champion who has slid to 297th in the world rankings, could have enjoyed a larger margin but a bogey-bogey finish left him on seven-under 133 after 36 holes.
"At times I get lost and distracted from the process," Harrington said. "Ultimately that's what has changed. I had it going out there for a while. I was struggling with it the last couple of holes."
The 43-year-old Dubliner won the 2007 and 2008 British Open and 2008 PGA Championship, the last of those being his most recent PGA victory.
Reed, who won the Tournament of Champions in January and defends his World Golf Championships title at Doral next week, fired a 67 to take second.
England's Ian Poulter shot 64 to share third on 135 with American Brendan Steele while England's Luke Donald was on 136 with Scotsman Russell Knox and American Jim Herman another shot adrift.
World number one Rory McIlroy missed the cut Friday, struggling to a second-round 74 to finish on 147, three shots over the trimming line.
Harrington, playing on a sponsor's exemption, began his second round off the 10th tee Friday afternoon and birdied the 12th and 16th before darkness arrived.
He returned Saturday with a birdie at the 17th and added another at the first before finding troubles in windy conditions. Harrington followed a bogey at the third with three birdies in a row, but stumbled at the finish to draw his rivals nearer.
Poulter's sizzling round saw him birdie the par-5 third, eagle the fourth and birdie the par-3 fifth. The Englishman added birdies at the eighth and 14th holes and answered his lone bogey at the par-3 15th with a birdie at the par-3 17th.
"It was always going to be tricky," Poulter said of the windy conditions. "The round started to pick up. I putted nicely. I played a pretty steady round."
Source: AFP
