Storm arrives and lead shrinks as Daniel Berger tries to hold on at API

ORLANDO — Even on a course set up as difficult as Bay Hill Club, treading water often means you’re sinking in a PGA Tour event.

Daniel Berger found that out Saturday in the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The leader by five strokes through 36 holes, Berger saw his margin cut to two shots over Akshay Bhatia when play was suspended by darkness at 6:30 p.m. ET.

A torrential downpour caused a delay of one hour, six minutes starting at 2:53 p.m. That was enough to prevent four players—Berger, Bhatia, Ludvig Aberg and Sahith Theegala—from completing their third round. They will return at 8 a.m. Sunday to finish up, the perfect scenario on the day the clocks move forward an hour.

Berger, who opened with a 63, had two birdies and two bogeys through 15 holes to sit at even par for the round and 13 under in the $20 million signature event. When he returns to the course, he’ll face a 33-foot eagle putt at the par-5 16th hole.

Bhatia was three under on his round through 16 holes, having opted to finish the same hole where Berger stopped and marked his ball overnight. After finding the greenside bunker in two, the left-hander splashed out to two feet and tapped in for his third birdie in five holes to close the gap on his playing partner. Bhatia also birdied the 15th from with a 16-footer.

“Yeah, birdieing those two holes obviously is great,” said Bhatia, who led by two strokes after 54 holes at the year's first signature event, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, before falling back to T-6. “Fifteen’s a bonus. Sixteen's kind of a must, with Daniel having 25 feet there. So again, just need to keep doing what I'm doing. It's fun to be in the hunt.”

Should they remain the top two players on the leaderboard, Berger and Bhatia will begin their final round at 1:50 p.m.

Sepp Straka, Cameron Young and Collin Morikawa share the clubhouse lead at nine-under 207. Straka submitted the day’s low round, a six-under 66, while Young had a 67. Because he and playing partner Rickie Fowler teed off on 18 before the horn sounded suspending play, they were able to complete 18 holes and Morikawa sank a nine-foot par putt to salvage 70.

“It's huge,” Morikawa, winner last month at Pebble Beach, said of finishing up. “Not that I would have wanted to bogey that … but just being able to wake up and sleep in, and just kind of get the day situated, it's a huge kind of momentum thing, I think, for the routine, especially teeing off pretty late tomorrow.”

Min Woo Lee was a shot behind the trio after a 68, while Chris Gotterup, a two-time winner this year, posted 69-209.