Sep 26, 2004 By Dave Stofcheck 5 min read

FARMINGTON – Once football season starts, Chris DiMarco rarely has a chance during a round to sneak in an update on his beloved Florida Gators. Saturday was a little different. Much to his disgust, DiMarco had plenty of time, not only to find out the Gators defeated Kentucky, but to sit and brew during a five-hour and 20-minute round, which finally ended with Vijay Singh clinging to a two-stroke lead with 18 holes remaining in the 84 Lumber Classic.

Fog again blanketed Mystic Rock, delaying play and forcing PGA Tour site officials to scramble. The result was a change in pairings from twosomes to threesomes, and instead of starting every group off the first tee, both No. 1 and No. 10 were used.

Singh originally was paired with Ben Curtis and was scheduled to tee off at 1:20 p.m. But after the morning delay, Singh, DiMarco and Curtis were grouped together and actually had their tee time moved ahead an hour.

After five holes, the gridlock began.

“It sucked, to tell you the truth,” DiMarco said. “Five hours and 20 minutes. That’s not even right. You couldn’t get any rhythm out there. You sit and wait. You sit and wait. You watch the group in front of you. You watch them play. I wish we could play twosomes tomorrow. But it looks like we’re going to play three again, so it looks like another five-hour, 20-minute round.”

DiMarco entered the third round three shots back of Singh and one behind Curtis, and during his marathon afternoon, managed to shave a stroke off his deficit.

Singh, meanwhile, looked human for the first time in weeks, failing to crack par for only the second time in his last 11 rounds and finishing exactly where he started hours earlier, at 12-under.

“It was a very unusual day, a pretty long day,” Singh said. “I think it messed up everybody’s rhythm. I’m kind of a little disappointed with the officials.”

In fact, so disappointed that Singh took it up with one during the turn after No. 9.

“I called the official to the 10th hole and it still didn’t seem to help,” Singh said.

Not everyone saw it exactly the same way as Singh and DiMarco, however.

Slugger White, a rules official, had a different take on the events.

“You have 25 groups playing 18 holes. Common sense and plain mathematics will tell you there’s going to be some delays,” White said. “Golf is not a track meet.”

Singh looked like he was going to lap the field with an opening-round 8-under 64. He moved to 12-under through Friday and sat at 14-under after 10 holes Saturday, but bogeys on the par-5, 633-yard No. 11 and the par-3, 203-yard No. 17 left him with just a two-shot advantage.

Owning the world’s No. 1 ranking and having won four of his last five tournaments, Singh is trying to win three straight starts for the first time in his 12-year Tour career.

Tiger Woods was the last player to win three straight starts, doing so in 2001.

“I didn’t play as good as the first two days,” Singh said. “I had a good start and just couldn’t get it going. I hit an ordinary shot on No. 6, and then made bogey. Apart from that, I thought I played OK. I wasn’t in my rhythm. My rhythm was not there today. I was just struggling to find it all day. But I finished with a good solid par on the last hole. I’m still in the lead by two, so I’m not that disappointed.”

DiMarco started his round at 9-under, and immediately dropped a stroke with a birdie on the par-4, 371-yard No. 1. He matched Singh with a birdie of his own on No.5 to stay three back, and then a par on No. 6 brought him to two strokes down after a Singh bogey.

A birdie on the 226-yard par-3 No. 7 had him one shot back before Singh regained a two-stroke advantage on No. 8. DiMarco birdied No. 11, dropped back to two strokes with a bogey on No. 14 and wound up two shots down after following Singh’s par with a bogey on the par-4, 463-yard No. 18.

“Thankfully, Vijay didn’t run away with the tournament today,” DiMarco said. “Obviously, I would have liked to finished with two pars and been right there with him starting tomorrow’s round. But there aren’t many times when he shoots 72. I shot a 71 today and I picked up a shot, so obviously there is a positive there. Nobody really did much.

“The course actually won today.”

Curtis certainly looked defeated after a long afternoon in which he posted the worst score of the day, a 9-over 81.

Two players, Jonathan Byrd and Matt Gogel, are three shots back of Singh, with Byrd firing the day’s best round, a 5-under 67, and Gogel’s 68 not far behind.

“I played really solid today, no bogeys,” Byrd said. “I left a few out there, but I made a couple of good saves. I have seen Vijay shoot some 78s this year, so you never know what’s going to happen. There are some par-5s, like No. 16, where you are trying to see if you can make a three to catch up two shots. But you still have the same plan, just to make a bunch of putts.

“When somebody gets off to a good start the way Vijay did, you can’t force it. You just have to play the golf course.”

Zach Johnson and Kent Jones are tied at four strokes back, with seven players tied at 7-under.

The youngest player on Tour, 21-year-old Kevin Na, was 3-under Saturday and is six strokes back, as is crowd favorite John Daly after a 2-under Saturday.

Daly will be grouped with Frank Lickliter II and Richard S. Johnson, teeing off on No. 1 at 11:40 a.m. today.

Singh, DiMarco and Byrd start their round on No. 1 at 12:40 p.m.

Tournament officials already expect another fog delay this morning, so tee times are slated to begin at 10:40, with groups again consisting of three golfers.