ST. LOUIS – Tiger Woods birdied three of his first five holes and was at 3 under through his first seven holes and making up ground on leader Gary Woodland (66, 10 under). Alas, the horn blew for a weather delay at 3:35 p.m., with Woods having hit his drive 321 yards into the primary rough at the par-5 eighth hole. “I’m 3-under par, so I felt I was headed in the right direction,â€� Woods said. “Tomorrow is going to be a long day for a lot of us and try and get back at it early tomorrow morning.â€� Although the morning wave had completed the second round, the afternoon wave was not so lucky, as players were called off the course with as many as 14 holes remaining when a thunderstorm blew through St. Louis and dumped too much rain on Bellerive Country Club to continue. They will resume play at 7 a.m. local time Saturday, and the third round will begin approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of round two, with threesomes going off the first and 10th tees. “The good thing is we’re going to have the greens prepared before we go back out there to finish up our second round,â€� Woods said. “It would have been quite a bit different if we had to go back out this afternoon and finish it up. But the greens will be freshly cut, so it will be just like it was when we played on Thursday.â€� FedExCup No. 2 Justin Thomas, playing in the same group as Woods, was 1 under for the round and 2 under overall through seven. Rory McIlroy, the third member of the group, was even for the day and even for the tournament, just inside the projected cut line. “I guess the story of the last couple of days, I just haven’t taken advantage of the opportunities,â€� said McIlroy. “I kind of felt like I had a couple really good looks on the front nine today and didn’t take them. But I’m in the middle of the eighth fairway and I’ve got a chance to hopefully make birdie there in the morning and hopefully that will kick start me and I can get off and running from there. “But, yeah, it’s been, I think it’s been 16 pars in a row from yesterday to today,â€� he added, “so hopefully I can break that run in the morning.â€� Not that a birdie at the par-5 eighth is a guarantee. Phil Mickelson, playing in the other marquee group of the afternoon, had just made a bogey there and was at 3 over, three shots on the wrong side of the cut line, when the horn blew to evacuate the course Keegan Bradley, another member of his group, had reeled off three straight birdies to get to 3 under when the horn blew, while Jason Day, the third member of the threesome, was at 1 under for the round and 4 under overall through eight holes. “Today I just wanted to try and be patient,â€� Day said. “I’m 1-under, currently on the ninth green, so if I can come back tomorrow with softer conditions, I think that I’ll be able to try to get some more birdies out there.â€� First-round leader Rickie Fowler was 2 under through 10 and 7 under overall, just three back. “Obviously, it would be nice to keep going after birdieing 8 and 10,â€� he said. “I feel like we’re in a good spot. But the nice thing about the delay and going back out tomorrow morning, we’ll get fresh greens, so that will be nice for the final eight holes of the second round. “We’ll see how the waves play out and how the scoring is,â€� Fowler added. “Obviously, great scoring in the late early wave, and we’ll see if we can go take advantage of good conditions in the morning.â€� Playing alongside Xander Schauffele (2 under through 11, 2 under overall) and U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Jim Furyk (3 over for the day, 2 over for the tournament), Tony Finau had the wildest round of the day going after making eight birdies and a triple-bogey for his first 11 holes. Finau was at 4 under for the day and even par overall, just inside the cut line.
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