A Few Early Filings

Leonard Shapiro has the American take on Saturday's mostly washed out round, Thomas Boswell tells you more than you ever wanted to know about Chad Campbell, who will not win Sunday.

John Huggan picks on poor Monty for The Guardian on Sunday...just kidding. Scotland on Sunday.

Dai Davies writes about Darren Clarke and his wife's battle with cancer on the eve of Sunday's final round.

And John Hawkins blogs about the Saturday tee time mystery and answers what most of us couch potato pundits were wondering (but afraid to ask):

Yet again, we're left to wonder why the third round wasn't moved up to, say, 8 a.m., and why the most crucial stages of a major championship are likely to resemble a Chinese firedrill. Saturday's forecast had called for rain since the beginning of the week. Today's leaders wouldn't have gotten very far before the suspension, but in sticking with the original plan, viewers stood to see little, if any, of the third-round action that matters most.

It was a virtual replay of the scenario that plagued last year's Masters, when Tiger Woods made up seven strokes on leader Chris DiMarco during untelevised play Sunday morning. It's a problem the good folks at Augusta National already have rectified -- the rest of tomorrow's third round can be seen at 8 a.m. on USA Network -- but it doesn't change the fact that the tournament allowed itself to become needlessly inconvenienced by the weather.

A two-tee start at 8 a.m. Saturday would have sent off the final pairing (Chad Campbell, Rocco Mediate) at around 10:10. They would have finished the front nine before the rain, returned after the suspension and putted out on the 18th well before darkness. Not that any sensible scenario makes much difference now.