GREENSBORO, N.C. — It’s been four years since Sergio Garcia’s last PGA Tour victory. He’ll have to wait one more day before he can try to finish this one off.
And a downpour at the Wyndham Championship meant another day of uncertainty for others on the playoff bubble.
Garcia had the lead at 15 under through four holes Sunday when the final round in the last event before the FedEx Cup playoffs was suspended for the day because of heavy rain.
Tim Clark, Jason Dufner and Bud Cauley were 14 under through varying stages of their rounds, and 38 players — half the field — still were on the course when play was stopped.
After waiting roughly 2 hours, 20 minutes, officials decided to bring them back to Sedgefield Country Club at 9 a.m. Monday to crown a champion and figure out who qualifies for the playoffs and who doesn’t. It will be the first Monday finish in Greensboro since 1983.
Tour officials said more than 2 inches of rain fell on the course since Saturday night, and Mark Russell, the tour’s vice president of rules and competition, said the 15th hole became “unplayable.”
The stoppage came at 3:10 p.m. when the showers picked up, and it was expected to be only a brief delay, with the players initially staying on the course. Officials reversed that decision and brought them in a short while later.
Then, when the initially announced restart time of 5 p.m. was pushed back twice — first to 5:30 p.m., then 6 p.m. — it made it virtually impossible for the final pairing to finish 14 holes in the roughly 2 hours of remaining daylight and guaranteed a Monday finish.
The decision to suspend the tournament was announced at 5:28 p.m.
“It started raining and just wouldn’t stop. The golf course got to the point where it was saturated,” Russell said. “We got to a point where we knew we couldn’t finish … so we made a decision that we would let it drain tonight, come back in the morning and be in position to resume play at 9 o’clock.”
Clark, who started the day a stroke behind Garcia after letting a few birdie chances get away late in the third round, birdied two of his first four holes to match Garcia at 15 under.
A bogey on the par-5 fifth — the most frequently eagled hole on the course — dropped him back a stroke, and he was in the fairway on No. 6 when the rain delay came.
“Obviously, we’d all like to continue playing,” Clark said. “You get into a rhythm out there, and you’d like to keep going. But it’s going to be the same for all of us. It’s just a tough situation.”
Garcia began the day at 14 under and had three pars and a birdie on the par-3 third. He was preparing for a 40-yard chip when play stopped.
Garcia, who hasn’t won on tour since the 2008 Players Championship, also wants a spot on the European Ryder Cup team. The 10 automatic qualifiers will be set following the Johnny Walker Invitational, with Jose Maria Olazabal making two captain’s picks.
Garcia certainly made a case for inclusion with his play this week, following his second-round 63 — his lowest round on tour in a decade — with a 66 that gave him a one-stroke lead entering the final round.
While Garcia continued his chase for that spot, other players were trying to secure a spot in the playoffs that begin later this week. The top 125 on the points list qualify for the Barclays at Bethpage Black.
Heath Slocum, who arrived at No. 128, was at 11 under through 13 holes and was at No. 120 on the projected standings.
Every stroke was critical for Y.E. Yang, who came to Greensboro at No. 129 and needed a strong final round to push his way into the postseason.
He finished at 6 under following a third straight 69 and was projected to miss the playoffs at No. 127 when play stopped.
Fox captures U.S. Amateur with birdie
CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, colo. — Steve Fox made an 18-foot birdie putt on the 37th hole Sunday, completing a remarkable underdog run to win the U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills.
Fox, 21, from Hendersonville, Tenn., was 2-down with two holes to play against Michael Weaver of Fresno, Calif., before rallying with consecutive birdies to force the extra hole.
Fox, a senior at Tennessee-Chattanooga, made an 11-foot putt to win the 35th hole.
Still with a 1-up advantage, Weaver, a 21-year-old redshirt junior at the University of California, needed to make a 5-foot putt on the 36th hole at the 18th green to secure the win, but it lipped out, extending the championship round to a 37th hole.
A shaken Weaver landed his next tee shot in the rough, putting himself in a tough spot and needing two more shots to put the ball on the green. Fox then hit a slow roller, breaking at the end from left to right, for the winning putt.
Fox, like Weaver, survived a 17-for-14 playoff to qualify for the 64-player match play field. Fox entered match play as the No. 63 seed.
Wood claims first Champions title
ENDICOTT, N.Y. — Willie Wood won the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open on Sunday for his first Champions Tour title, beating Michael Allen with a par on the first hole of a playoff.
Wood made a long birdie putt on the final hole of regulation to match Allen, a two-time winner this year, at 13-under 203 on the En-Joie Golf Course. Wood closed with a 66, and Allen shot 66.
In the playoff on the par-4 18th hole, Allen’s drive that went way left, essentially ending his chances.
Woods earned $270,000 for the victory, his first since he won the 1996 Deposit Guaranty Golf Classic for his lone PGA Tour title.
Joey Sindelar, Kenny Perry, Tom Lehman and Brad Faxon finished a stroke back. Sindelar had a 66,
Perry and Lehman shot 67, and Faxon had a 71.
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