By Jeremy Harness
AP photo: Scotty Piercy takes a walk up the sixth green of Silverado Green North Course at the Safeway Open which tightened up on the top of the leaderboard on Saturday
NAPA, Calif. – When looking at the weather forecast for Saturday, it was not a matter of if the rain was to come down but when. From that point, the question was how long the players would be on the course before they had to be forced off of it.
While most of the players were able to finish, the leaders who started their third rounds in the afternoon, such as Friday’s overall leader Scott Piercy, will have to finish their rounds Sunday morning after increased amounts of rain eventually suspended play.
Unlike the first two days, however, there will be a new leader when play resumes early Sunday morning. Piercy, who is one shot behind at this point after watching his three-shot lead evaporate while a group of players surged to the top of the leaderboard.
“(For) the first 12 holes it was pretty good, and then (at) 13 and 14, it started getting kind of nasty,” said Piercy, who was on the 16th hole when officials called a halt to the action. “(It was) hard to hold on to the club, and the ball’s squirting off the (club)face.
“It’s too bad we had to stay out there for a little too long, and then, I got to a point where I couldn’t hit the shot I wanted to hit, and so that’s enough.”
Johnson Wagner was one of the guys who charged out in front, and he enters Sunday morning with a one-stroke lead. He started the day three shots behind, but he played the 15 holes that he got in three-under.
“It was so brutal out there the last few holes,” Wagner said. “I was really just trying to survive and make as many pars as I could and just tick them off hole by hole.
“I don’t know how anybody else played, but it was difficult. I never even looked at the leaderboard today.”
Patton Kizzire was one who made a big charge. He sizzled on Saturday, recording five birdies on the front nine without a single bogey, and after a birdie at the 12th, he was tied for the lead at 15-under. However, a wayward tee shot at the 14th led to a bogey, he parred the next two holes before play was called for the day.
“After holding an umbrella for a while, your hand gets a little tired, and then you’ve got to step up there and hit a three-footer,” Kizzire said. (But) I played well, managed it.
“I’m not really striking the ball like I can, so that will be something to look forward to (Sunday). But my putter has been my saving grace; I’ve been really rolling it well.”
Piercy finished up his second round Saturday morning and picked up one more stroke, birdieing the par-4 17th hole to extend his lead to three shots as he began his third round in the afternoon.
“I wanted to make three birdies coming to the (club)house this morning,” Piercy said of the conclusion of his second round Saturday morning. “But I still hit some good shots, hit all the greens in regulation, pretty much hit in every fairway except for one or two.
“Ball striking is solid, (but I’m) just maybe off on a couple of reads (on the green),” he continued. “I really wanted to go make that last (birdie putt on 18), just to get an extra stroke.”
Things began to go south for Piercy as his third round progressed, however. After a birdie at the par-4 fourth hole, his tee shot hit the tree and left him with no clear shot at the green at the sixth, forcing him to take a bogey there.
This was about the time where the expected rain began to fall, and Piercy’s lead got washed out in the process. He kept making pars, however, until the 14th, where his ball striking again let him down. His approach shot ended up going past the green, and when he failed to get up and down to save par, he fell behind a stroke.
At this point, the rainfall had increased to the point where the officials were forced to decide whether or not to allow play to continue. At 5:43pm PST, the decision was made to suspend play for the day, but they did give players a chance to finish the hole they were playing on at that point.
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