In through the storm door?

Ogilvy still leader at delayed Doral

Geoff Ogilvy may have liked his tee shot on No. 4, but nobody cared for the clouds above him. (Hans Deryk/Reuters)

DORAL, Fla. - Stretching from daybreak to twilight, the golf featured parts of two different rounds with stop-and-go rhythm you normally only get at rush hour. But never did it lack for great play. Nor did it lack a bevy of heralded names.

All the CA Championship lacked was an ending.

That will come this morning, when the fourth round resumes, thanks to turbulent weather that began late Saturday and carried into yesterday's action at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa.

When it does commence at 8:30, Geoff Ogilvy, at 17 under par, will be hitting his second shot into the 551-yard, par-5 10th, clinging to a two-shot lead over playing competitor Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk, who'll pick up at the par-4 11th. Retief Goosen (through 10) and Graeme Storm (through nine) will start at 14 under, but if you're looking for the resumption of Tiger Woods's winning streak, well, that has a long way to go.

"I'm done," is about all Woods wanted to say when his 12 1/2-hour day at the golf course was over, for what had transpired in the seven holes he played to finish Round 3 and the 11 he got in for Round 4 did nothing to enhance his chances for a sixth consecutive PGA Tour win.

He had been just three shots off Ogilvy's lead in the morning restart, but on a day when soft winds and softer greens made for optimum scoring conditions, Woods went 1 under for his 18 holes and thus left the course last night at 12 under, tied for eighth and five off the pace with seven holes to play.

Not that having Woods in the rear-view mirror makes things easier for Ogilvy, who is trying to go wire-to-wire in this World Golf Championship event.

"It's frustrating. It would have been nice to get it finished today," said the 30-year-old Aussie after playing a total of 18 holes in 3 under to remain the man to beat.

But Ogilvy conceded that after the way Saturday's torrential rain had halted his third round just 12 holes in, "I had it in my head that we were going to finish Monday."

That became a greater reality in stifling humidity when dangerous weather remained in the area. Players did have enough of a window to finish the third round as Ogilvy tossed down birdie putts of 22 feet at the par-4 14th and 40 feet at the par-3 16th to close out a 4-under 68 and get to 16 under, leading by four over players who need no introduction - Adam Scott (69), Singh (63), Goosen (64), and Furyk (64) - but the Storm (63) who also joined the fray at 12 under had nothing on the storm that soon took over.

It arrived at 2:20 with the leaders on the third tee, and although very little rain fell enough electricity remained to keep players inside for several hours.

"It's no fun," said Ogilvy, who returned to the course with his competitors at 3:40, only to be called back in when a tornado warning cropped up in nearby Coral Gables. It wasn't until 5:10 that players finally were able to get back to the action and what followed were some fireworks that had nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with a host of the world's top-ranked players.

Singh, for instance. He had birdied the par-4 18th to complete his stunning 63 in the morning, and with three birdies in a bogey-free outward nine, he pulled within two.

Furyk, for another. He went 2 under in six holes to complete his third-round 64, then shook off a choppy birdie-bogey-bogey start in the fourth round to run off four straight birdies starting at the par-4 fifth to also push to 15 under.

Goosen made three, because after going 4 under in seven holes to put the finishing touches on a third-round 64, he went out in a tidy 34 strokes to get to 14 under and within three.

It's a trio of players who have combined for 50 PGA Tour wins and six major championships, so it's not as if Ogilvy doesn't have a talented posse in pursuit of his lead. It was a fact that was not lost on him, especially given that Scott is just four off the lead, tied with Steve Stricker, who as one of 24 players who did finish Round 4, strung together six straight birdies in a blistering 63 that got him as the clubhouse leader at 13-under 275.

Sort out those top seven names atop the scoreboard and you have four players ranked in the top 10 and five in the top 17.

"Yeah, it's a good leaderboard," said Ogilvy. "But that's what the whole point of these [WGC] tournaments was, I guess."

While on the subject of guessing, that appears to be what Woods was doing on the greens, for he never seemed to figure out the part of his game that usually is at the heart of his greatness.

When he made par at all seven holes to finish a third-round 72 and fall five back, the fallout was fairly dramatic. He had shot no higher than 71 in any of his previous 22 rounds, dating to the opening round of September's Deutsche Bank Championship in Norton, Mass. Woods made just one birdie in that third round and he hadn't made so few since the last round of last summer's US Open. It was also the first time since last year's Players Championship that he failed to make a birdie on a par-5 on a par-72 course.

"I had four lip-outs in the round," said Woods, and indeed, he was accurate on that count.

But so miserable was that part of his game that he used his putter a whopping 34 times in the third round. All of it came in conditions that led to a third-round field average of 70.179, so it was also the first time since Round 1 of the DBC that he had shot higher than the field average.

Stunning stuff, though it seemed destined for a turnaround when Woods started the fourth round birdie-birdie. The only thing was, he missed the fairway at the par-4 third and made bogey, then he missed the green at the par-3 fourth and missed a 6-foot par-save attempt.

Sloppy bogeys, each of them, and while Ogilvy knows nothing about that storyline thus far this week, he did stumble for the first time at the par-4 seventh when he drove it left into trees, then missed the green left, and fluffed his wedge. It halted his stretch of 60 bogey-free holes, dropped him to 17 under, and sliced his lead to two.

But he recovered from a wild drive right at the par-5 eighth and made par, then made a solid par at the par-3 ninth, and when he split the fairway at the 10th, he was told he could end his day with the prospects of a fourth straight night of sleeping on the lead.

It's just that with dusk falling, he didn't seem to be bothered by that, and for good reason.

"I'm tired enough that I don't think I'll be having too much trouble sleeping," said Ogilvy.

Jim McCabe can be reached at jmccabe@globe.com.