DUBLIN (Ohio), June 4: Sweden's Carl Pettersson ended a long day the way it began clinging to a one-shot lead at the rain-hit Memorial Tournament when third-round play was suspended due to inclement weather on Saturday.

Pettersson and most of the field arrived early at the Muirfield Village Golf Club to mop up the second round and very nearly managed to get back on schedule until the rain returned late in the day.

The Swede, who failed to make the cut for the first time in 14 events this campaign at his last start at the Colonial, completed a bogey-free second round to take a one-shot advantage into the afternoon.

One shot back are Americans Woody Austin and Zach Johnson, with one and two holes still to play but the man Pettersson will be looking over his shoulder at is Masters champion Phil Mickelson sitting three off the pace.

Leading third round scores:

205 – Carl Pettersson (Sweden) 69, 67, 69.

207 – Woody Austin (US) 71, 69, 67.

208 – Zach Johnson (US) 70, 68, 70.

209 – Phil Mickelson (US) 69, 70, 70.

210 – Adam Scott (Australia) 71, 66, 73.

211 – Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 72, 70, 69; Rod Pampling (Australia) 72, 73, 66; Brett Wetterich (US) 69, 69, 73; Sean O'Hair (US) 67, 70, 74.

212 – Robert Gamez (US) 70, 74, 68; Vaughn Taylor (US) 70, 72, 70; Brandt Jobe (US) 70, 68, 74.

213 – Paul Casey (Britain) 70, 73, 70; Ted Purdy (US) 69, 75, 69; Stewart Cink (US) 69, 74, 70; Rory Sabbatini (South Africa) 74, 68, 71; Justin Rose (Britain) 75, 71, 67; Tim Clark (South Africa) 69, 69, 75.

KARLSSON ON RAMPAGE

NEWPORT (Wales): Sweden's Robert Karlsson broke another European Tour record in the Wales Open when he bettered the 54-hole aggregate by three strokes to take a six-shot lead into Sunday's final round.

On Friday, Karlsson had bettered the 125 set by Tiger Woods for 36 holes by one stroke and, after a 65 on Saturday, his 189 aggregate outdid the world number one again.

His four-under-par moved him to 18-under for the tournament.

He heads Britain's Paul Broadhurst, who shot 67, with another

Briton, Gary Orr, a further stroke back after a 65.

Leading third round scores:

189 – Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 61, 63, 65.

195 – Paul Broadhurst (Britain) 64, 64, 67.

196 – Gary Orr (Britain) 68, 63, 65.

197 – Simon Dyson (Britain) 66, 62, 69; Henrik Nystroem (Sweden) 66, 67, 64.

198 – Matthew Millar (Australia) 69, 62, 67; Colin Montgomerie (Britain) 63, 66, 69; David Park (Britain) 66, 68, 64; Johan Skoeld (Sweden) 65, 66, 67; Anthony Wall (Britain) 72, 63, 63.

199 – Philip Archer (Britain) 60, 68, 71; Graeme McDowell (Britain) 68, 67, 64; Marcel Siem (Germany) 65, 66, 68.

200 – Francois Delamontagne (France) 63, 67, 70; Ian Garbutt (Britain) 69, 65, 66; Michael Hoey (Britain) 64, 68, 68; Jose-Filipe Lima (Portugal) 69, 61, 70; Wade Ormsby (Australia) 68, 67, 65; Lee Slattery (Britain) 64, 67, 69; Graeme Storm (Britain) 65, 67, 68.—Reuters