He waited 2½ hours to play one hole in the morning, a two-puttbirdie from the fringe to complete a second-round 63 and get withinthree shots of the lead. Then he waited six hours to start thethird round, birdied his first two holes and caught Tom Lehman whenthe Ryder Cup captain faltered.
When darkness finally halted play at Torrey Pines, only onething was certain.
"It's been a long day," Woods said. "And we've got anotherlong one tomorrow."
And there's still a long way to go.
Woods turned a bogey into an unlikely birdie by holing a bunkershot on the par-3 11th. Lehman struggled from the onset, missing a6-foot birdie on the first hole, then having to make a pair of8-footers on the next two holes, one of them for par, the other forbogey.
Woods found the 14th fairway with his tee shot, and decided tofinish the hole after the horn sounded to stop play.
"One less hole to worry about," he said.
Lehman never teed off and will return there Sunday morning -- assuming everyone can see.
Peter Lonard, who completed his 65 early Saturday to join Woodsat 12 under through 36 holes, decided to play the 14th and made amess of it, taking double to slip back to 11 under, along with LukeDonald.
Ernie Els was 2 under through five holes and begging rulesofficials to halt play, saying he couldn't see. He was at 10 under,along with Kevin Sutherland and Dudley Hart.
And don't forget about Vijay Singh.
Quietly marching along in the group behind Woods -- the leadersteed off on the back nine for television -- the 41-year-old Fijianbirdied three of his last four holes and was at 8 under.
The third round is expected to resume at 10:30 a.m. ET.
"I can't wait to grab some dinner and repeat the processtomorrow," Woods said.APTom Lehman saw his three-shot lead over Tiger evaporate Saturday.
PGA tournament director Mark Russell held out hope that theBuick Invitational could avoid its first Monday finish, althougheverything has to fall together perfectly. No more than a one-hourdelay Sunday can be tolerated. And players will not take a breakafter they finish the third round, heading straight to the nexttee.
The leaders began the third round on No. 10. They will start thefinal round on No. 1.
It was chaotic, but by now, everyone is used to the soupy fogoff the Pacific.
Nearly 60 players arrived Saturday morning to finish the secondround. Some were on the practice range hitting soft lob wedges toabout 70 yards, unable to see where the ball was landing.
After a 2½-hour delay, the second round resumed.
And when the third round began, no one played more than fourholes until Torrey Pines was shrouded anew in fog.
Phil Mickelson was at 5 under after 36 holes, but quickly fadedfrom contention. He hit his approach into 3 feet on his secondhole, the par-3 11th, only to miss the putt. He followed that withseveral other mistakes and was 4 over on his round through 11holes, 11 shots out of the lead.
Woods could not have asked for a better start.
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From a fairway bunker on No. 10, his approach spun back 12 feetabove the hole, and he curled that in for a birdie. And right whenit looked like he had short-sided himself on the 11th, his bunkershot was picking up speed when it rammed into the pin and droppedfor birdie.
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Els also started quickly with a 3-foot birdie on No. 10 and an18-footer for birdie on the second hole. The Big Easy might beplaying better than anyone, giving himself birdie chances inside 18feet on every hole he played on the South course. He missed a10-footer on the 14th, then waited on the 15th tee until play wassuspended.
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