HOUSTON, April 25: Steve Stricker, Steve Lowery and PGA Tour rookie Zach Johnson retained their lead in the completed second round of the Houston Open on Saturday.
Each of the leaders finished on five-under-par 139 on Friday but when darkness fell 36 players remained on the course. Rain and thunder on Saturday prevented play resuming until 1530 EDT.
The second round ended at 1715 EDT and the third round began at 1740. The 71-player field went off the first and 10th tees in threesomes and, since the third round will not be completed on time, they will likely stay in those groups for the tournament.
Leading second round scores (US unless stated):
139 - Steve Stricker 69, 70; Steve Lowery 70, 69; Zach Johnson 71, 68.
140 - Patrick Sheehan 69, 71; Paul Azinger 73, 67; Vijay Singh (Fiji) 74, 66; John Riegger 69, 71.
141 - Dudley Hart 69, 72; Justin Leonard 71, 70; Mark Calcavecchia 72, 69; Chris Riley 67, 74; Scott Hoch 73, 68; David Peoples 70, 71; Neal Lancaster 70, 71; Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 71, 70.
142 - Kevin Na 72, 70; Jose Coceres (Argentina) 73, 69; Hal Sutton 69, 73; John Huston 71, 71; Tim Petrovic 69, 73; Joe Ogilvie 72, 70; Paul Stankowski 72, 70.
PARK IN FRONT
FUERTEVENTURA: Britain's David Park maintained his lead in the Canaries Spanish Open third round on Saturday but Argentina's Ricardo Gonzalez moved to within a shot as he bids for back-to-back victories.
Park's one-over-par 71 left him at 10-under 200 but Gonzalez, whose 64 was just a stroke off the Fuerteventura Club course record, is hot on his heels as he seeks to follow up on last week's Seville Open success.
Sweden's Peter Hedblom (68) and Christian Cevaer of France (69), Park's playing partners, were a further stroke back in a tie for third.
Leading third round scores (Britain unless stated, a denotes amateur):
200 - David Park 64, 65, 71.
201 - Ricardo Gonzalez (Argentina) 67, 70, 64.
202 - Christian Cevaer (France) 66, 67, 69; Peter Hedblom (Sweden) 68, 66, 68.
203 - Bradley Dredge 70, 69, 64.
204 - Klas Eriksson (Sweden) 70, 67, 67.
205 - Marcus Fraser (Australia) 68, 68, 69; Gregory Havret (France) 73, 63, 69; Santiago Luna (Spain) 69, 67, 69.
206 - Diego Borrego (Spain) 67, 73, 66; Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium) 72, 67, 67; Jose Manuel Lara (Spain) 69, 68, 69; Rob Rashell (US) 72, 67, 67; Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 69, 70, 67; Jean-Francois Remesy (France) 67, 68, 71. -Reuters
