Lightning stops Tiger Woods in his tracks

First-round play at The Barclays tournament was delayed for a second time yesterday just as Tiger Woods was making a charge up the leaderboard at Liberty National in New Jersey.
Tiger Woods. Picture: Ian RutherfordTiger Woods. Picture: Ian Rutherford
Tiger Woods. Picture: Ian Rutherford

World No 1 Woods, who topped the points list entering this first event of the four-tournament FedExCup play-offs, had posted three birdies in a row to reach three under through seven holes before the horn sounded due to lightning in the area.

The suspension came one hour 42 minutes after an earlier lightning threat caused a delay of over two and a half hours.

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Woods, a five-time winner on the PGA Tour this season, stood one stroke behind Australian Jason Day and Americans Kevin Stadler and Matt Every midway through the morning flight.

Day had completed nine holes, while Stadler and Every had played seven.

Woods was among eight players at three under, including Americans Ryan Palmer, Charles Howell III and Jeff Maggert and Colombian Camilo Villegas. A dozen players were bunched at two under par, including

US Open champion Justin Rose of England, defending Barclays champion Nick Watney and fellow Americans Jim Furyk and Matt Kuchar, and Henrik Stenson of Sweden. PGA champion Jason Dufner was one over par through nine.

Sixty players were on the course when the horn sounded for the second time.

Phil Mickelson, a popular winner of the Open Championship at Muirfield earlier this summer, and Masters winner Adam Scott of Australia were among the players scheduled to tee off in the afternoon wave in the 123-man field.