2013 Players Championship: Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia 2 shots back as 3rd round ends early

Tiger Woods vs. Sergio Garcia at TPC Sawgrass on Saturday was no Tiger-Rory love fest -- not that anyone expected the long-time antagonists to hold hands and skip down the fairways in their much-hyped third round of The Players Championship.

Garcia and Woods added a new, testy chapter to their one-sided would-be rivalry when the 33-year-old Spaniard blamed the 14-time major winner for his own poor shot moments after they began their round.

Inclement weather has affected the PGA Tour almost every single week in the 2013 season, and that trend continued at the Players Championship. A couple different lines of thunderstorms moved into the Ponte Vedra Beach area late in the afternoon, interrupting play for the final groups still out on the course and pushing the conclusion of the third round to a Sunday morning restart at 7 a.m. ET

The rain had pounded TPC Sawgrass prior to the tournament, dumping more than 10 inches of water just before the game’s fifth major was scheduled to tee off. At one point, the island green at No. 17 was under water just days before the start. Luckily for the Tour, which has dealt with rain, snow, wind, and lightning so far this year, the first two days, with more cumbersome and full 145 players in the field, went off without delay. Saturday’s weather stoppage should not affect play too much, unless more inclement weather blankets the area and forces yet another Monday finish with Tiger Woods involved.

Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia really don’t like each other, something that was more than apparent when the two golfers barely acknowledged each other’s existence during 14 holes of their weather-delayed third round at TPC Sawgrass on Saturday.

Garcia escalated the cold war between the two when he complained to NBC’s Steve Sands during the lightning-induced break that Woods was to blame for his errant shot on the second hole. After darkness forced officials to call it quits for the day, Woods responded to Garcia’s charge, which elicited an equally sassy retort from the Spaniard.

The third round of the 2013 Players Championship was suspended on Saturday with the leaders still on the course. The round was interrupted by a weather delay earlier in the round and darkness forced play to be suspended a second time at 7:48 p.m. ET. David Lingmerth, who has one hole to play in the third round, is the current leader at 12-under.

Lingmerth is 4-under through 17 holes, holding a two-stroke lead over Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods. Woods and Garcia, playing in the final group, chose to not finish their hole and will instead resume play with their second shots on No. 15. Woods is even-par on his round while Garcia is 1-over for the day. Stenson chose to finish his final hole, despite the darkness, and was able to make a par on No. 16.

Welp, the relationship between Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia was already a bit frosty, but after the Spaniard’s comments during Saturday’s rain delay at the Players Championship, it may turn outwardly hostile. The two are playing in the much-hyped final pairing in the third round at TPC Sawgrass, and Garcia started the day with a one-shot lead.

But that lead disappeared by the second hole, as a two-shot swing flipped each player’s position less than a half-hour into the round. Tiger made birdie on the par-5 second to move to 9-under on those nine holes so far this week. Sergio, on the other hand, sent his second shot way into the woods on the right and could not recover to save par. As soon as he made the swing, Sergio glared to his left, where Tiger was busy fussing around in the trees and pondering how to come back out on his second shot. Garcia incredulously shook his head, and Golf Channel’s Tiger Tracker said he looked “pissed” about Woods potentially provoking crowd noise over in the trees.

Like every other tournament through the first four months of the 2013 PGA Tour Season, weather has now interrupted Saturday’s golf at the 2013 Players Championship. Just after 4 p.m. ET, the horn at the Stadium Course of TPC Sawgrass was blown and the players were taken off the course, transported in golf carts to the clubhouse.

Typically, when they take the players to the clubhouse, the PGA Tour anticipates a lengthier delay as opposed to a quick passing storm. The thunder started to rumble in the distance with the final pairing of Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia just six holes into their round. About 10 minutes after the first sign of thunder, the officials sounded the horn. Here’s an image of the approaching skies, via Rex Hoggard of Golf Channel:

It didn’t take long for The Players Championship leaderboard to shuffle at the top, as Tiger Woods jumped into sole possession of the lead just two holes into his third round alongside Sergio Garcia. Woods picked up a birdie at the par-5 second hole without ever seeing the fairway. He pulled his drive left and it was rumbling in the trees pretty quickly off the tee. His punch crossed the fairway and landed in a bunker well short of the green, where he blasted out 10 feet short of the pin. Woods, whose putter has carried him to three wins already this year, put the birdie putt right in the middle of the hole to move to 11-under. He’s now 9-under through his first nine par-5s this week, and that’s almost always the route Tiger takes to victory.

While Tiger picked up the birdie at the par-5 second, Sergio, who put his ball in the middle of the fairway, sent his approach shot off the yard way right. The precocious Spaniard was upset about some commotion in his backswing, and according to Golf Channel’s Tiger Tracker, it may have been prompted by Tiger fussing around in the trees:

Lee Westwood played the first 36 holes at The Players Championship without a bogey -- an amazing feat given all the trouble on almost every hole. But it didn’t take long for Westwood to drop his first shot of the week, double-bogeying the first hole on Saturday.

The path to the double, however, was a bit unconventional and it could have been worse. The Englishman left his tee shot in proximity of a tree trunk. He set up for his approach shot against the trunk, and it appeared he was going to make a run at the green. Well, that didn’t exactly happen, and Westwood whiffed -- knocking the tree and then swinging over the top of the ball by a good few inches to avoid contact. Here’s video of the whiff, via Kyle Porter of CBS:

The leaders at The Players Championship have yet to tee off at Sawgrass for Saturday’s third round, but there has already been some movement behind Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods.

A pair of South Africans, Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace, are 5-under par for the day, moving them both into a tie for 20th. Six golfers, including Jason Day and Padraig Harrington, are behind them at 2-under par for the round.

Tiger Woods enters the weekend of The Players Championship in control of his game, as comfortable as he has ever been on a golf course that has historically given him fits and one stroke back of erstwhile adversary, Sergio Garcia.

With Woods up 14 majors to none over the winner of their long-ago made-for-TV exhibition, the two old pros enjoy a “rivalry” as lopsided as that between the Yankees and Red Sox, pre-2004. But the 30-somethings (Tiger’s only four years older than the 33-year-old Garcia) certainly have a history, which started at the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah and will continue in Saturday’s third round at TPC Sawgrass.

Sergio Garcia caught fire at the second round of the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass on Friday, shooting a 65 to move up nine spots to the top of the leaderboard heading into the weekend. Garcia is at 11-under through two rounds, which is enough to give him a one-stroke lead over Tiger Woods.

Woods has been his steady self, shooting 67 on both days of the tournament to hover around the top of the leaderboard with two rounds still to go. If not for Garcia’s big round, Woods would be at the top.

A rivalry which was once hailed as the future of golf in the late 90s may resurface on the weekend at the 2013 Players Championship. Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods charged to the top of the leaderboard Friday morning at TPC Sawgrass, overtaking 18-hole leader Roberto Castrom who’s out in the afternoon wave. Garcia, who’s at 11-under, leads Woods by one shot with half the field still out on the course.

For Woods, the conditions were perfect to take aim at the pins and shape shots with his irons. While he plays it annually when healthy (and sometimes injured), this course is not a favorite of Tiger’s, who won the event in 2001. He’s been unable to contend since 2009, but this May, he entered the week in different form and with greater comfort in his Sean Foley-redesigned swing. Even with that improved game, Tiger talked about the tricky layout before the week and it was clear that this Pete Dye design is still not one he’s especially comfortable with.