By The Associated Press

SAN DIEGO – More fog delays allowed the leaders to play no more than five holes Saturday in the Buick Invitational. Tiger Woods didn’t even need that long to make up a three-shot deficit on Tom Lehman.

Woods birdied his first two holes, one of them by holing out from the bunker on No. 11, and was tied with Lehman at 14 under par when darkness fell on Torrey Pines.

Woods finished his second round early Saturday with a birdie to cap off a 63 on the easier North course, then waited some six hours before the fog lifted enough to see fairways and greens, but not the Pacific Ocean.

Lehman struggled from the onset, missing a 6-foot birdie on the first hole, then having to make a pair of 8-footers on the next two holes, one of them for par, the other for bogey.

Woods found the fairway on No. 14 when the horn sounded to suspend play, and elected to finish the hole. Lehman didn’t bother to tee off, and will return to the tee Sunday morning – assuming there is no fog.

Peter Lonard, who completed his 65 early Saturday to join Woods at 12 under, decided to play the 14th and made a mess of it, taking double to slip back to 11 under, along with Luke Donald.

Ernie Els was 2 under through five holes and begging rules officials to halt play, saying he couldn’t see. He was at 10 under, along with Kevin Sutherland and Dudley Hart.

And don’t forget about Vijay Singh.

Quietly marching along in the group behind Woods – the leaders teed off on the back nine for television – the 41-year-old Fijian birdied three of his last four holes and was at 8 under.

The third round is expected to resume at 7:30 a.m.

The electricity in the gallery – most of that from fans having plenty of time to drink during a two-hour fog delay between the second and third rounds – made it feel like a typical Saturday afternoon on the PGA Tour with several top players in contention.

But there is a long way to go.

Sunshine bathed Torrey Pines all week, and with no rain in the forecast, no one imagined the Buick Invitational might be headed for a Monday finish. Tournament official Mark Russell held out hope that the tournament could be decided Sunday evening, but that requires no more fog delays.

And that might be asking a lot.

Nearly 60 players arrived Saturday morning to finish the second round. Some were on the practice range hitting soft lob wedges to about 70 yards, unable to see where the ball was landing.

After a 21/2-hour delay, the second round resumed.

And when the third round began, no one played more than four holes until Torrey Pines was shrouded anew in fog.

Phil Mickelson was at 5 under after 36 holes, but quickly faded from contention. He hit his approach into 3 feet on his second hole, the par-3 11th, only to miss the putt. He followed that with several other mistakes and was 4 over on his round through 11 holes, 11 shots out of the lead.

Woods could not have asked for a better start.

Clark sets himself up for another SA Open title

DURBAN, South Africa – South Africa’s Tim Clark shot a four-under 68 for a four-way share of the lead after the third round of the South African Open on Saturday.

Clark shared the lead at 9-under 207 with countrymen Tjaart van der Walt, Hendrik Buhrmann and Titch Moore.

Clark, who won the tournament when it was last played on the Durban course in 2002, had a bogey-free round with four birdies.

“I came out and played very aggressively and tried to make a lot of birdies,” Clark said. “If I can shoot a round like that tomorrow, that is pretty much going to put the tournament away.”

He gained added confidence from the fact that he shot the best round of the four players. Buhrmann and Van der Walt carded 70s, while Moore – who led through the first two rounds – held on for an even-par 72.