ESPN.com - Golf Online - Masters 2000 - Frozen moment: Two days in one

By David Kraft
ESPN Golf Online
Sunday, April 9

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Tiger Woods was on fire. Davis Love III was smoldering. David Duval was waiting to go to the practice tee. And 10 twosomes hadn't even tee off at Augusta National.


	Rocco Mediate doesn't like the look of things above when the siren signals a stoppage of play.

At 12:25 p.m. ET, the shrill pitch of the weather-delay warning siren sounded, suspending play. And at that moment, The Masters was turned inside out.

The siren started what turned into a two-hour weather delay. The predicted lightning never came, but an hour later a drenching rain pelted the course. When it stopped and play resumed, the temperature had dropped and the wind was picking up.

The Weather Channel should have been given the broadcast rights. Is it too late to make Willard Scott an honorary member at Augusta National?

"It was really tough," said Ernie Els, who was 2-over through 15 holes. "Cold. Windy. Brutal. It was tough to focus, and it got worse as the day went on."

Exactly.

Woods was in the fairway on the 11th hole when play was halted, having just birdied four consecutive holes to get back to even-par. When play resumed, he birdied the par-5 13th and par-5 15th. A bogey at No. 17 left him with a 68, one of two rounds in the 60s.

Love was on the ninth green, looking over a 3-foot putt when the siren sounded.

He grabbed some lunch -- "I was the first one in the sandwich line, and sandwiches are important here because they're the best sandwiches anywhere" -- and came back to make his putt. He then birdied the 12th, 13th and 15th holes to get to 2-under. A bogey at the 16th left him with a 68.

As Woods and Love were finishing, the leaders were starting the front nine, knowing they had no chance of finishing their rounds before darkness. That meant, in addition to playing Saturday afternoon in wind gusts up to 40 mph, they would have to return Sunday morning to finish their third rounds, with frost warnings and temperatures in the low 40s predicted.

"It will be pretty cold, and it has to be warmer when I play," Woods said. "Then they get to go home, relax, and come back out again. That's tough to do."

"I got the best of it today," Love said. "I would say the guys that got those late tee times today didn't get the best of it. The first day (Love was in the third-to-last group Thursday), I didn't do a good job hanging in there. And now these guys are looking like this is going to be a bad afternoon of playing golf."

When Duval, Vijay Singh, Loren Roberts, Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson came to the back nine, they had no legitimate chance. The wind was howling, playing tricks with the ball in the air and making putting a real adventure.

Only Singh survived, thanks to birdies at the par-3 12th and par-4 14th. He's 7-under and leads The Masters by three shots late in the third round. But Singh is one of eight players who will have to finish their third rounds Sunday morning.

How tough was the back nine?

The flag at No. 11 was facing one way; the flag at No. 12 was facing another. And they're about 150 yards apart.

Mickelson had five bogeys on the front nine.

Roberts missed the green at No. 11 by two clubs. Singh was in a similar spot.

Duval, who had just tied for the lead when playing partner Singh bogeyed the 11th, hit his ball into the water at No. 12 when it held up in the wind.

"I deealt with the weather pretty good, I guess," said Singh. "It was pobably one of hte coldest rounds of golf I've played in a long time."

Love had little sympathy.

"I'm not going to feel sorry for them," said Love. "In the course of playing major championships, sometimes you get funny draws and it doesn't work out quite right. But these guys playing right now are not real happy about their situation, and I don't blame them. But that's the way things go."


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