PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — It figures to be a mad dash to the finish in Monday’s completion of the Honda Classic at PGA National with eight players within three shots of the lead.
Ian Poulter and Paul Casey, two Englishmen, will wake up Monday morning with a share of a tenuous lead at 7-under par. Patrick Reed is one shot back at 6-under, followed by Phil Mickelson, Brendan Steele, Russell Knox, Daniel Berger and Jeff Overton, who are all 4-under.
Poulter, the 54-hole leader, has 11 holes to play, beginning with Monday’s 8 a.m. resumption of play thanks to the weather delays on Friday and Saturday that pushed the schedule back.
Casey, who lost in a playoff at last week’s Northern Trust Open at Riviera, has 10 remaining holes. Mickelson has an 8-foot par putt on the ninth hole in the morning and will have the final nine to follow.
“There’s a lot of golf left in nine holes,’’ Mickelson said. “[I] need to get one hot streak of three, four birdies there on that back nine.’’
The hottest player on the course at day’s end was Casey, who shot a 4-under 31 on his front nine.
“I think I’m maybe playing as good of golf, if not better than I’ve played in the past,’’ Casey said.
Casey, who has committed himself to play full time on the PGA Tour this year, for the first time not playing on the European Tour, has not won in the U.S. since 2009.
“[I’m] very ready to win,’’ he said. “I’m eager to win. I feel like I’m playing good golf, and there are no obstacles in the way.’’
No one was feeling better than Poulter for much of the day — until he veered off the rails on the fifth hole of his final round.
For much of Saturday and Sunday, you’d have thought Poulter were playing a Ryder Cup. Europe’s match-play stud appeared to be in complete control of his game and the tournament, carrying a three-shot lead into the final round as he’s seeking his first career stroke-play win on U.S. soil in 185 starts.
But Poulter became unglued on No. 5, when he shanked an 8-iron dead right on the par-3, bouncing the ball off a cart path and into a pond. Suddenly, the three-shot lead he held as he stood on the tee looked highly tenuous. Moments later, the lead was gone as quickly as you can say, “double bogey.’’
Meanwhile, his playing partner, Reed — America’s version of Poulter as perhaps its best match-play competitor — holed out a long birdie putt from well off the green to get to 7-under, tying for the lead.
For Poulter, it was a jarring series of events. He’d gone the previous 25 holes without a bogey or worse and had only one bogey in his previous 42 holes.
He was so rattled by the mess he made on No. 5, Poulter hooked his tee shot into the water on No. 6 and took bogey to tumble to 6-under par and lose his lead, falling one shot behind Reed.
Poulter did end his day with a flourish, delivering his tee shot on the par-3 seventh hole to 4 feet of the flag and making birdie to get back to 7-under and a tie for the lead with Casey, whose birdie on No. 9 got him back to 7-under.
“I tried to take too much off an 8-iron and hit a beautiful shank,’’ Poulter said. “I was just saying to my son, Luke, ‘Look what happens when you forget to concentrate. Silly things happen.’ I made a couple of really bad swings on [Nos.] 5 and 6, but that kind of angered me inside enough to spark a little bit of energy there to hit a good shot on 7.’’
Poulter called the birdie on No. 7 “massive,’’ because, “I was seriously pissed. Having a three‑-shot lead … I didn’t even realize that I had a three-‑shot lead at that stage, but I was in cruise control. You take your foot off the accelerator for one second, all of a sudden you find yourself completely out of position making an easy double‑ bogey.’’