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DiMarco has case of Masters deja vu

Groundskeepers move water to a drain in the first fairway at the TPC of Louisiana course, site of the Zurich Classic. Storms prevented the completion of the third round. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press
Groundskeepers move water to a drain in the first fairway at the TPC of Louisiana course, site of the Zurich Classic. Storms prevented the completion of the third round. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

Chris DiMarco found himself in the same position he was in entering the final day of the Masters, sitting atop the leaderboard halfway through the suspended third round of the Zurich Classic in Avondale, La.

DiMarco, who overcame a bad Sunday morning performance in the Masters to take Tiger Woods to a playoff, was 4 under through 10 holes in the third round and 12 under overall when play was suspended because of darkness. James Driscoll was 11 under through 11 holes, and second-round leader Arjun Atwal was 10 under through 10 holes.

“Like I said at Augusta, those last nine holes that I played Sunday morning, I did not hit a bad shot,” said DiMarco, who lost to Woods on the first extra hole at Augusta National. “But everything that could possibly go wrong, you know, a couple of bad lies, I didn’t make some putts that I had been making, and it led to a bad number.”

On Saturday, DiMarco teed off five hours late, but wasted no time getting to work.

DiMarco, who started the day at 8 under, opened the round with a birdie, and added three more on the front nine to take the lead.

The start of play was delayed for five hours because of thunderstorms rolling through the area. The leaders were to start play at 11:27 a.m., but did not tee off until 4:47 p.m.

The players got in five hours on the course before play was suspended because of darkness. Sixty-nine of the 84 players were unable to finish, including former Pullman resident Kirk Triplett who has a two-round total of (69-71) 140.

LPGA

Stacy Prammanasudh’s old college rival is still on her mind.

Prammanasudh shot a 7-under 65 to take a two-stroke lead over defending champion Lorena Ochoa in the Franklin American Mortgage Championship in Franklin, Tenn., the first time the 25-year-old Oklahoman has taken a lead into the final round of an LPGA Tour event.

In her senior year at Tulsa in 2001-02, Prammanasudh was ranked No. 2 in the nation, while Ochoa was No. 1 as a sophomore at Arizona.

Catriona Matthew (65) was third at 7 under and Christina Kim (69) was another stroke back.

Ochoa finished off a second-round 68 in the morning at the tournament plagued by rain delays for a share of the lead with Kerr, Liselotte Neumann and Wendy Ward of Edwall, Wash.

Neumann and Ward struggled in Ochoa’s group during the third round, shooting 76s to drop 10 strokes behind Prammanasudh. Rathdrum’s Tracy Hanson shot 75 for a three-round total of 222.

Champions Tour

Wayne Levi holed out from 182 yards for eagle on the par-4 17th and closed with a birdie for a 5-under 67 and a share of the second-round lead with Jim Thorpe in the FedEx Kinkos Classic in Austin, Texas.

Bruce Fleisher (70) was 5 under, and Mark James (68), Dana Quigley (70) and Brad Bryant (72) were 4 under.