Ausin Eckroat will go to sleep with a one-stroke lead at the Cognizant Classic as the final round was suspended due to darkness following a 3 1/2-hour weather delay Sunday in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Eckroat, one of three 54-hole co-leaders, only teed off after the delay had ended at 4:20 local time. He went 2 under through his first seven holes at PGA National’s Champion course to get to 15 under.
The final round will resume at 8 a.m. Monday morning, according to the PGA Tour.
“It was just a weird day,” Eckroat said. “Mother Nature, there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Erik van Rooyen of South Africa is the leader in the clubhouse at 14-under 270 after he rocketed up the leaderboard with an 8-under 63 in his final round.
In third is Jake Knapp, the tour rookie who earned his first career win last week at the Mexico Open at Vidanta. Knapp is 5 under through 15 holes.
Eckroat, 25, has yet to win on tour and said he hasn’t experienced a situation like the one he finds himself in.
“I almost didn’t think we were going to play at all today, so I kind of shut off for a little bit and then I had to get back into competitive mode,” said Eckroat, who posted birdies at Nos. 4 and 5. “I didn’t feel any more nervous, but I definitely had more time to think for sure.”
Knapp, who rolled in six birdies with one bogey on Sunday, said he tried to be “a little bit” more aggressive after the weather delay, knowing the course was softer.
“There’s definitely a couple pins you can’t be overly aggressive to, especially because when bunkers get washed out and wet like this, they’re kind of unpredictable,” Knapp said.
Meanwhile, van Rooyen birdied the first six holes plus the par-4 eighth to shoot up the leaderboard with a front-nine 28. He added an eighth birdie at No. 10 before the delay began. When he got back on the course, he could only muster one more birdie plus his only bogey of the day.
“If I don’t end up winning this tournament, I certainly don’t think it’s because of (Sunday) or the rain delay,” van Rooyen said. “I’m going to take all the positives I can.”
Tour veterans Keith Mitchell (65), Billy Horschel (5 under through 17 holes), Alex Noren of Sweden (4 under through 12) and Irishman Shane Lowry (1 over through five) are lurking at 12 under.
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, the highest-ranked player in the field, is in the clubhouse at 10-under 274 after shooting a 68 on Sunday.
“A week that could have been,” McIlroy said. “… Overall the game seems to be trending in the right direction. I drove the ball great again this week. I led the field in strokes gained off the tee at (the Genesis Invitational). Probably going to do that again this week.
“That’s the foundation of my game. When that’s good, I just need some of the rest of the pieces to fall into play. Hopefully they can over the next couple weeks.”
–Field Level Media
