Northern Trust Open, Round 3

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Dustin Johnson is looking for his third career victory this week at a rain-soaked Riviera Country Club.

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Northern Trust Open

PGATOUR.COM's The Live Report has all the news and notes from the Northern Trust Open, and we'll be providing updates all day long for each round, so check back often. (All timestamps are Eastern Time.) PGA TOUR Shot Tracker | Live Scoring | PGA TOUR Network | Facebook | Twitter | FanZone | TOUR iPhone app

ROUND 3 SUSPENDED (8:34 p.m.): The sun has set -- yes there was a lot of sun today -- and the third round has been suspended due to darkness. Play will resume at 7 a.m. local time Sunday. -- Brian Wacker

ROUND THREE WINDING DOWN (8:15 p.m.): Sunset is officially in about 12 minutes from now, which means Round 3 will have to be concluded early tomorrow morning. It also means Steve Stricker will sleep on a very healthy lead -- right now, it's at five strokes. Stricker has yet to make a bogey at Riviera today and he has just three all week. Add that to a field-best 15 birdies and you see why he's running away with this thing. Stricker is also 13th in driving accuracy this week, first in putts per round and eighth in greens in regulation.

Stricker could get to No. 2 in the Official World Golf Rankings, supplanting Phil Mickelson, but right now he looks like the best player on the planet, at least the best one that's currently playing. -- Brian Wacker

ROUND OF THE DAY, SO FAR (7:50 p.m.): Scott Verplank played about as clean a round as you could have at Riviera and the result was a bogey-free 65 that, at least so far, is the lowest score turned in for the third round.

Verplank had four birdies and an eagle, which came on the par-5 first hole, whil taking 25 putts and hitting almost 80 percent of his fairways. The end result? He moved up 29 spots and, as of now, is just outside the top 10. -- Brian Wacker

Below is a look at Verplank's scorecard from today. Click here to replay his round with Shot Tracker.

STRICKER IN COMMAND (7:25 p.m.): There's still a lot of golf left -- and maybe just over an hour or so today with bright skies -- but Steve Stricker may turn this into a rout. He leads by five shots with Luke Donald, Anthony Kim and Dustin Johnson his closest competitors.

That begs the question of what's the biggest margin of victory in this tournament? Answer: Nine, by MacDonald Smith in 1929 and Phil Rodgers (at Rancho Park GC) in 1962. -- Brian Wacker

JOHNSON SLIDING (7:02 p.m.): Dustin Johnson has had a roller-coaster day at Riviera. He endured a 90-minute delay Saturday morning before he could complete his final two holes in the second round. It was worth the wait, though, as a chip-in at the 18th hole gave him a one-stroke advantage -- the first 36-hole lead of his young career.

After making birdie on the first hole in the third round, though, Johnson has struggled. An errant tee shot was lost in the deep rough on the third hole, leading to a double bogey. Then he missed the green on the par-3 fourth and made another bogey -- yet, he was still in sole possession of second place.

That ended as Johnson, who will defend his title at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am next week, made the turn, though. He missed the green at the par-4 ninth and then couldn't convert the 5-footer for par. So after going out in 38, Johnson is now tied with Luke Donald, Steve Marino, Anthony Kim and Andres Romero, five strokes behind Steve Stricker. -- Helen Ross

MOVING UP (6:44 p.m.): It's amazing that Dustin Johnson is 3 over today and still tied for second (more on that in a few minutes). Johnson is actually one of five players tied for second at 8 under, five shots back of Steve Stricker.

Among that group are Anthony Kim and Luke Donald, who are 3 and 4 under, respectively, today. Steve Marino is also right there, trying to win for the first time in his young career.

Stricker, meanwhile, might be unbeatable. He's already 3 under through nine holes today and continues to play the best golf of his career that might get him to No. 2 in the world when it's all done Sunday. -- Brian Wacker

BLUE SKIES (6:20 p.m.): For the first time in a while, we've seen sunshine and blue skies today at the Northern Trust Open, where, fingers crossed, things should finish relatively on schedule on Sunday.

Sunset today will be at 5:27 p.m. local time, meaning there's about 2 hours of daylight left. They won't finish the third round, but with what looks like a relatively good forecast for Sunday, the third round should be able to be completed early Sunday before they move on to the final round. -- Brian Wacker

ELS ADDS QUINN TO CADDIE DUTIES (6:05 p.m.): If you're a hockey fan, the man on Ernie Els' bag may look familiar. Dan Quinn played 14 seasons in the NHL for Calgary, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Ottawa, Los Angeles, Vancouver, St. Louis and Minnesota. He's an accomplished golfer, as well, and has won multiple times on the celebrity golf tour.

Quinn and Els became friends when the South African moved his family to south Florida about two years ago. He's the one who introduced Els to Dan Marino, and the two men, both of whom have sons who are autistic, have become fund-raisers and advocates for research into the condition.

Quinn caddied for Els at the Barclays Singapore Open last year when long-time caddy Ricci Roberts took some time off. The Northern Trust Open is the second event Quinn has worked for Els in the United States. Roberts and Quinn will split carrying Els' bag in 2010.

This isn't Quinn's first caddieing gig -- he worked for John Daly at the 2000 U.S. Open. Quinn has played in four Nationwide Tour events, including one as an amateur, but missed the cut in all four. His low round was a 72 in the first round of the San Jose Open in 1997.

Quinn also is a four-time champ of the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship at Lake Tahoe, winning in 2004, 2002, 2001 and 1999. He has finished in the top 10 on 11 other occasions, including second three times and third twice. -- Helen Ross

STRICKER IN STRIDE (5:51 p.m.): Steve Stricker is just 1 under through his first five holes today, but he's in the lead by two. That's not all that surprising if you look at just how good Stricker has been since this tournament a year ago when he finished second. Well, just look at the numbers below. -- Brian Wacker

EAGLE LANDS (5:30 p.m.): Scott Verplank has a ways to go to catch leader Steve Stricker -- Verplank is six shots back -- but he's putting up what might end up being the best round of the day with three birdies and an eagle through his first 10 holes.

The eagle for Verplank came on the par-5 first hole, where the not-usually-long Verplank drove it 304 yards before sticking his second shot to inside 4 feet. Verplank's drive alone should give you an idea of how different a course plays when it's not pouring. -- Brian Wacker

CHANGE AT THE TOP (5:10 p.m.): Dustin Johnson might have been better off if it kept raining. His length off the tee would certainly help him against the rest of the field. Instead, that length just hurt him with a wild tee shot at the par-4 third hole, where, after a 5-minute search for his golf ball, he came up empty. Johnson has now hit just six of his last 20 fairways. At best, he will make a bogey, which will drop him one shot behind Steve Stricker.

Stricker, by the way, has a chance to move past Phil Mickelson and into the No. 2 spot in the Official World Golf Rankings this week. -- Brian Wacker

STADLER'S STRUGGLES (4:45 p.m.): After leading the field in greens in regulation during the first round with 16 of 18 greens hit, Kevin Stadler hit just 11 of 18 greens in the second round and made bogeys on two of the holes on which he missed the green (Nos. 4 and 15).

Stadler is trying to match Bill Haas' win at last week's Bob Hope Classic, where Haas joined his father, Jay, as the second father-son combo to win the same PGA TOUR event (Al and Brent Geiberger each won the Wyndham Championship). Stadler's father, Craig, won the Northern Trust Open in 1996.

Little Stadler is still in contention here, though, having birdied the first hole in the third round to get one of those bogeys back. He's now five back and in a tie for fourth. -- Brian Wacker

RYO IN THE HUNT (4:25 p.m.): A year ago, Ryo Ishikawa made his PGA TOUR debut at this event, missing the cut. This time around, he's just four shots off the lead after a birdie on the first hole.

This is Ishikawa's best position after any PGA TOUR round (He was tied for eighth after the third round of the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions, an unofficial TOUR event, and finished T17). This is also the first time Ishikawa has posted back-to-back rounds in the 60s on the TOUR.

Meanwhile, across the ocean and in Dubai, Rory McIlroy is two shots off the lead in the European Tour event. If Ishikawa and McIlroy both somehow go on to win, as a colleague pointed out, that's a whopping 38 years between them. To put that in perspective, Phil Mickelson turns 40 this year. -- Brian Wacker

MICKELSON UPDATE (4:06 p.m.): If Phil Mickelson is going to win for a third-straight year at Riviera, he's going to have to make up some ground after starting the third round seven shots back. Well, Mickelson didn't waste any time doing that. He just eagled the par-5 first hole after reaching the green in two. That gets Mickelson to within five of the lead and if he can put up the kind of round he did yesterday -- a 5-under 66 -- he'll certainly be in very good shape. Click here to follow Mickelson live with Shot Tracker. -- Brian Wacker

A NUMBER OF WDs (3:57 p.m.): Anytime there is a major weather issue, there's always the possibility a few players might withdraw. Getting you caught up on the list of players who have pulled out here at Riviera for one reason or another: Rocco Mediate, Daniel Chopra, Chris Couch, Scott Piercy, Jesper Parnevik, Ben Crane and Stephen Ames. -- Brian Wacker

YOU TWEET, WE ANSWER (3:42 p.m.): "Attention @pgatour and @pinggolf - figure out a way to settle your lawsuit re: the square grooves. Golf doesn't need any more negativity." -- @AlexanderLaw

As we saw earlier in the week, the grooves controversy isn't ending anytime soon, though PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem, among others, is working on it (click here for his interview transcript).

In the meantime, the pre-1990 Ping Eye 2 wedges remain legal and two of them are in play this week with Fred Couples and Hunter Mahan, who missed the cut. Phil Mickelson, who is trying to win here for the third-straight time and who just teed off, decided to shelve his for now as did Padraig Harrington, who joined Mahan in missing the cut. -- Brian Wacker

COURSE STORY (3:23 p.m.): All you have to do to see how much of an effect the whether can have on a golf course is look at how the field played the drivable par-4 10th in Round 2.

Thursday, 44 players tried to drive the green. In the second round, which wrapped up late this morning, only 22 players attempted to. In both cases, just one player (Matt Kuchar in Round 1, Anthony Kim in Round 2) did so successfully.

Those trying to drive the green in the second round averaged par for the hole. Those laying up? They averaged 4.10 strokes. Obviously not much of a difference. Translation: It's a difficult hole no matter what you do.

It will be interesting to see what the field does this afternoon with a break in the rain. Check out the chart below for more numbers from the course. -- Brian Wacker

LONG AND SHORT (3:10 p.m.): When it rains as much as it has this week at Riviera -- and more may still be on the way -- guys like Dustin Johnson have a decided advantage because of how far he can carry the ball in the air off the tee and with his irons. Of course, it also helps when you make a hole-in-one and chip in for birdie, the way Johnson did in Round 2.

While this is the first time that Johnson, who ranked second on the PGA TOUR in driving distance last year, has led after 36 holes, he's proven to be a pretty good bad weather player. Remember, he won last year at Pebble Beach, where weather conditions were so bad the tournament had to be shortened to 54 holes. -- Brian Wacker

INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR (2:50 p.m.): Of the top 10 names on the leaderboard, four of them are international players. What's more surprising, though, is that just 10 international players have won at Riviera in the 84-year history of this event (see chart below). That could certainly change this week, however, with Argentina's Andres Romero, New Zealand's Tim Wilkinson, England's Justin Rose and Japan's Ryo Ishikawa all within five strokes of the lead going into the third round. -- Brian Wacker

ON TO ROUND 3 (2:30 p.m.): The third round began 20 minutes ago with players going off split tees in groups of three -- something that was already scheduled regardless of the weather because of being on the West coast and fitting the round in the TV coverage window.

Still, we're not out of the clear yet. The rain is expected to become heavier this afternoon -- the forecast calls for an 80 percent chance of precipitation. More than 3 inches of rain has already fallen at Riviera. The grounds crew has obviously done a remarkable job in keeping it playable, but at some point the course might become like a wet sponge under a running faucet. In other words, it could eventually become too saturated to continue. Right now, though, we're playing golf. -- Brian Wacker

WRAPPING UP ROUND 2 (2:15 p.m.): The second round is finally in the books, and the two most significant moves on Saturday morning were made by Dustin Johnson and Ryo Ishikawa.

Johnson chipped in from just off the green at the 18th hole to take a one-stroke lead over Steve Stricker and a three-stroke edge on Andres Romero, both of whom will be his playing partners in the third round. Johnson is 11 under after finishing off his 67.

Ishikawa holed a shot from 120 yards in the primary rough for an eagle at the 17th hole. The 18-year-old from Japan is among four players tied at 6 under -- joining Kevin Stadler, Tim Wilkinson and Justin Rose. -- Helen Ross

Groups We're Watching

Tee time Players   4:20 p.m. ET, Hole No. 1 Dustin Johnson, Steve Stricker, Andres Romero Johnson's advantage off the tee is multiplied with the wet weather seen so far this week at Riviera C.C. 4 p.m. ET, Hole No. 10 Ryo Ishikawa, Anthony Kim, Ricky Barnes Many consider Ishikawa and Kim to be two of the components to golf's future. Ishikawa has a real shot at the title. 3:40 p.m. ET, Hole No. 1 Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Brandt Snedeker Which Phil will show up on Saturday? The one who shot 72 on Thursday, or the one that fired a 66 on Friday?

MORE ROUND 3: Tee times | Inside the field | Inside the course

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