Golfer Vows To Donate Earnings To Houston, Then Wins Tournament

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – Rickie Fowler watched “Baywatch,â€� starring Dwayne Johnson, while Patrick Rodgers chose a documentary on British heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. Aaron Baddeley killed time with a YouTube program called Really Bad Dad Jokes, in which the first contestant to laugh loses. (Sample joke: What did the ocean say to the shore? Nothing. It just waved.) The OHL Classic at Mayakoba became an odd waiting game thanks to thunderstorms that began Friday afternoon, intensified overnight, and continued Saturday morning, pushing the resumption of play back from 7:30 a.m. all the way to 1:40 p.m. Fowler (67) and Rodgers (65), two of 57 players forced to finish their second rounds Saturday, played three holes apiece and finish tied for the top at 10-under, along with Patton Kizzire (70). Players who made the cut on the number, 1-under, were immediately sent back out at 4:15 p.m. The leaders were unable to start the third round before darkness fell and are looking at a potential 36-hole final day, weather permitting. Play is scheduled to resume at 7:15 a.m. Sunday. “We got woken up by the storms last night a few times,â€� said Fowler, who led the TOUR in sand saves last season (68.66%) and is three-for-three from the sand so far this week. “We tried to get as much sleep as we could, and the first alarm was going off at 5:00. I’m sure most of the guys were getting up around then. I kind of waited as long as I could to get over here.â€� A wild storm system hovered over Mayakoba overnight, with booming thunder and lightning and four inches of rain falling in four hours. “I think it rained a ton and very impressed with how they hold water out here,â€� Rodgers said. “It wasn’t too bad. I thought they would have problems with us playing the ball up after all that rain, but we were good. Nice to be back out.â€� OBSERVATIONS ODA LOVING LIFE AS A PRO. John Oda, the UNLV product who is making his pro debut this week, tied for second in the recent second stage of the Web.com Tour Q school in Murrieta, California, then went home to Las Vegas last Saturday. He was watching a friend play in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open late Sunday when he got a call from his manager, Walker Huddy. “He told me to get ready to travel,â€� Oda said, “and I was like, ‘Where?’â€� Oda booked a flight and packed his bags. With Huddy on his lightweight carry bag, he played 10 holes to complete his second round Saturday, most of anyone in the field since he was in the last group. Oda made four straight birdies from holes 3-6, then hung on with par saves to shoot 65 and get to 9-under at the halfway point. “I didn’t even unpack from second stage,â€� Oda said. “I really am just trying to play some golf, have some fun, not put too many expectations on myself.â€�       RODGERS OPENS UP. Patrick Rodgers was not thrilled after playing the last three holes of his second round, three of the easiest holes on the course (7-9), in 1-over on Saturday. But after signing for a 65, he was still tied for the lead. The Stanford product is still seeking his first TOUR win at 25, which probably wouldn’t try his patience so much if not for some extenuating circumstances. Rodgers is used to winning, having racked up 11 victories at Stanford in three years, tying Tiger Woods (who did it in two) for the all-time school record. But it’s more that Rodgers is part of the vaunted high school Class of 2011, led by super-achievers Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas. “To be honest, at times it’s been really hard,â€� Rodgers said, “because I feel like I have the game that everyone else has, and I feel like I work as hard as everyone else does. But everyone has a different process, and I have to be patient with that.â€� NOTABLES CHARLES HOWELL III – He birdied three of his first five holes in his third round to get onto the first page of the leaderboard at 8-under and in position for a run at the title Sunday. PAT PEREZ – The defending champion made the cut on the number and was 1-under for his first three holes of Round 3 before darkness halted play. ROBERTO DIAZ – Last man to get his TOUR card off the Web.com Tour and the 555th ranked player in the world, Diaz shot 65 to get to 6-under. He is even through two holes of Round 3. BEAU HOSSLER – Second-round 66 has him in a tie for 10th place after recent T7 at Shriners Hospitals for Children Open and T10 at the Sanderson Farms Championship. KEITH MITCHELL – He started the tournament with a hole-in-one Thursday and shot 66 but barely made the cut on the number after soaring to a second-round 75.  QUOTABLES “With a 5 o’clock wake-up call, you’d like to start a little earlier than 1:40.â€� – Rickie Fowler on the long rain delay caused by overnight thunderstorms and rain Saturday morning. SUPERLATIVES Low second round: 65, by sponsor’s invite John Oda, making his pro debut; Roberto Diaz of Veracruz, Mexico; Denny McCarthy; Patrick Rodgers; and Brian Gay. Longest drives: With rain pounding the ground soggy for much of the second round, Brandon Hagy averaged 314.5 yards in two measured drives. Fewest putts: Martin Piller took just 23 putts in the second round and was one of four players to take only 24 (along with Alex Cejka, Matt Every and Russell Knox) in the first. Easiest hole: The 532-yard, par-5 13th played to a 4.543 stroke average, which yielded 70 birdies and five eagles. The top nine players on the leaderboard were a combined 11-under on the hole. Hardest hole: The 452-yard, par-4 14th played to a 4.394 stroke average and gave up just four birdies. The 485-yard, par-4 16th hole, hardest in Round 1, was second hardest at 4.339.

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