Tue, Mar 25, 2008 page19

• Ogilvy clings to two-shot lead as darkness halts play

  • AFP
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  Australian Geoff Ogilvy clung to a two-stroke lead while Tiger Woods was five strokes back on Sunday when darkness halted the final round of the CA Championship.

  With nine holes yet to play, Ogilvy stood on 17-under, two ahead of Fiji's Vijay Singh, who had nine to play, and American Jim Furyk, who had eight remaining, with Woods struggling in his bid to win his eighth event in a row.

  "I'm sure he probably thinks he has a chance and we've seen him do crazy things before," Ogilvy said of Woods. "But Jim and Vijay have won a fair few tournaments and there are some pretty tough players right up there."

  

  Australia's Adam Scott blasts out of a sand trap at the 13th hole during the third round of the CA Championship in Miami on Sunday.

  PHOTO: AP

  After 61 players were forced to complete the third round on Sunday morning because of prior storms, golfers waited out a two hour, 50 minute weather delay before darkness fell with 24 in the clubhouse and 53 returning yesterday for the finish.

  "It was a long day," Ogilvy said. "I warmed up four times. It's no fun. It's a bit fatiguing going out, warming up, getting in the van, driving all the way out, coming all the way back, coming in, sitting around. It was frustrating."

  Ogilvy opened with a birdie and added another at the sixth before taking his first bogey of the week at seven, ending a run of 60 holes at par or better.

  "Had my first bogey, which is disappointing, but apart from that it wasn't too bad," Ogilvy said. "What are you going to do? You're going to make one at some point."

  Woods was 12-under with seven holes remaining, sharing eighth with Aussie Nick O'Hern, after four birdies and three birdies on the front nine and two back-nine pars.

  ■ PUERTO RICO OPEN

  Greg Kraft fired a two-under 70 on Sunday to win the US$3.5 million Puerto Rico Open by a stroke, giving the US veteran his first official US PGA Tour title in his 379th event.

  Kraft, who turns 44 in 12 days, finished on 14-under 274 to edge compatriots Bo Van Pelt, the third-round leader, and Jerry Kelly by one stroke. Two more Americans, Briny Baird and Kevin Stadler, were on 276.

  Kraft's only prior triumph against top talent came at a 1993 event in Madison, Mississippi, before it became an official tour stop. His PGA runner-up showings included the 1998 Western Open and 1999 Colonial and Doral events.

  Most of the world's top players were playing at a World Golf Championships event this week in Miami, but that did not dim the enjoyment of a US$630,000 top prize for Kraft.

  Kraft birdied the par-five fifth hole and added birdies at the 12th and 17th to seize a two-stroke lead over Kelly in the clubhouse, giving him enough of a margin to make his first bogey in 30 holes on the 18th and still win the title.

  ■ MADEIRA ISLANDS OPEN

  Alastair Forsyth of Scotland beat South Africa's Hennie Otto at the first hole of a play-off to win the Madeira Islands Open on Sunday.

  Forsyth, 32, came from five behind to fire a closing 67 to take full advantage of Otto's worst round of the week and claim his second European Tour title.

  "I went into the year feeling pretty good about my game after last year and I was hoping to carry that on, but I made a really poor start," Forsyth said. "But I have been playing all right over the past couple of weeks so I felt as if a good result was just around the corner."
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