English among five leaders at Doral
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Miami, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Harris English carded a 3-under 69 on Thursday and is tied for the lead with the first round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship suspended due to darkness.
There was a 2-hour, 24-minute weather delay earlier in the day Thursday at Doral. The round was later suspended by darkness and will resume on Friday morning at 8:45 a.m. ET.
English is one of just six players that managed to finish their first round. The two-time winner in 2013 stands alongside Jason Dufner, Hunter Mahan, Francesco Molinari and Patrick Reed at minus-3. Those four have completed between 11 and 16 holes.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Charl Schwartzel and Dustin Johnson, the 2010 and 2011 runners-up, stand at 2- under par through 15 holes. They were joined in sixth place by Matt Kuchar, last week's winner Russell Henley, Louis Oosthuizen, Zach Johnson and Adam Scott.
Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley and Sergio Garcia highlight a group of seven players that stand at minus-1.
Tiger Woods, who won this event for a seventh time last year, 3-putted for bogey to end his day at 2-over par through 10 holes.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Woods, who withdrew from The Honda Classic last week with a back injury, parred his first three holes. He missed the green on the par-3 fourth and that led to a bogey.
After that, he parred the next five holes to turn at plus-1. He found sand off the 10th tee and played his second down the fairway. Woods knocked his third to 53 feet, but 3-putted as the horns blew to suspend play to end his day at plus-2.
English won the St. Jude Classic and OHL Classic at Mayakoba last year and entered this event with three straight top-10 finishes.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He started on the back nine and birdied the par-5 12th. However, English faltered to bogeys on the 16th and 18th to make the turn at plus-1.
English quickly got back into red figures with birdies at one and two. He moved to 2-under with a birdie on the fifth and closed his round with a 46- foot birdie putt on the ninth.
"I really started hitting my driver well. That first nine was really tough. The wind got going," English said. "I kind of got rolling early on the second side."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Dufner flew out of the gate as he poured in four consecutive birdie chances from the 11th, his second. He birdied the first to move to minus-5, but stumbled to bogeys on the second and seventh to dip back into a share of the lead.
Reed had a similar start with four birdies in his first five holes from the 10th. He faltered to bogeys at 15 and 16 to fall back to minus-2. Around the turn, he birdied the first to gain a share of the lead, then parred the second before play ended for the day.
Mahan got going with birdies on one and three, but he tripped to a bogey on the seventh. After three pars in row, he birdied the 11th and 12th to move to minus-3.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Molinari birdied the first, then parred his next five holes. He converted another birdie chance on the seventh, and grabbed a piece of the lead when he birdied the 12th. He parred 13 before play was stopped.
NOTES: Since this event moved to Doral, this is the fifth time a round was suspended due to weather, and this is the fewest amount of players to complete a round ... The first round leader has won just two of 14 stroke-play events on the PGA Tour this year.