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Odd pause not a big deal for Sabbatini

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Times wires
Saturday, March 5, 2011

PALM BEACH GARDENS — After making consecutive birdies, Honda Classic leader Rory Sabbatini stood in the rough along the sixth fairway, complaining to a PGA Tour official about a delay in play and wondering what had become of the group just ahead of him.

The interruption could have halted Sabbatini's momentum. Instead, after a long wait, he hit an iron 200 yards to 10 feet of the pin, one of his better shots in his round of 4-under 66 on Saturday that gave him a cushy lead.

Sabbatini entered today's final round at 9-under 201, five shots ahead of Jerry Kelly (68) and 2009 winner Y.E. Yang (67). Second-round leader Kyle Stanley had 74 to drop seven strokes back.

The wait occurred when Kelly, playing two groups ahead of Sabbatini, lodged a shot in a palm tree. A newspaper photographer was able to use his telephoto lens to take a picture and enlarge the image so Kelly could identify his ball.

"That was a first, no question," Kelly said.

If he hadn't been able to identify the ball, he would have had to declare it lost and go back and hit his fourth shot from the rough. Instead, Kelly was allowed to declare an unplayable lie and take a penalty shot. He chipped to 13 feet and made the putt for a bogey save.

The inspection took time, so the twosome behind Kelly played through. Meanwhile, Sabbatini and playing partner Stanley waited and wondered how they had caught up with Kelly.

"It was a little bit of dazed and confused," Sabbatini said. "We're like, 'Okay, where did he come from?' And we're trying to figure out what's going on."

A South African who lives in Fort Worth, Texas, Sabbatini is known for his feistiness and candor on any topic. But he tried to look at the delay as positive.

"Actually, I think maybe that might have helped me slow down a little out there," he said. "It allowed me to back off a little bit and kind of refocus again."

Strong winds have made pars precious, and weather will likely be a factor again today.

With thunderstorms in the forecast for the afternoon, tee times for the final round were moved up.


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