DATE: Sunday, June 15, 1997                 TAG: 9706150186

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: BETHESDA, MD.                     LENGTH:   86 lines

MOTHER NATURE LEAVES OPEN LEADERS IN A FOG

All that dough architect Rees Jones received to redesign Congressional Country Club for this U.S. Open. What the place really needed was a leak-proof dome.

The U.S. Open resumes shortly after sunrise today, when 21 players finish their third rounds under conditions that are ideal only if you were born with fins. The way the weather forecast reads, don't be surprised if this turns out to be the first tournament where metal spikes are banned and duck shoes are required.

The U.S. Golf Association should have issued miner's hats to the contestants and their caddies. After Saturday's two-hour-and-three-minute storm delay, a fog rolled over this golf course that had you looking over your shoulder for the hound of the Baskervilles.

``With the fog and the haze, you couldn't see the shots land,'' said Tom Lehman, who had the lead when the rains came, but begins play this morning one stroke behind leader Jeff Maggert. ``I never saw a shot land after we resumed.''

Just so you don't think Lehman is one of these chronic whiners and complainers, most of his fellow competitors echoed his feelings, including Tiger Woods.

That's not all. Woods volunteered that the pace of the greens changed radically following the delay. Where the players had been putting on surfaces hard as tabletops, suddenly they encountered the type of grassy surfaces found at your basic municipal course.

``And those ain't U.S. Open greens,'' said Paul Stankowski, who turned in a 2-under 68 before the rains came. He trails Maggert by seven shots, just about out of it under normal circumstances, potentially very much in the chase now.

Yes, the players were given 30 minutes or so to warm up before play resumed. Yes, they stopped by the practice green to stroke some putts.

``But the pace of the putting green is totally different from the pace of the greens on the golf course,'' Woods explained.

Maggert, exhibiting a stiff upper lip, said he wasn't too bothered by the fog and haze. He's putting well, so the change in pace didn't bother him too much.

But the fact that there were streams running through most of the fairways was more than he could maintain silence about.

``I thought about taking relief (from the fairway) on 13, but that would have put me in the rough,'' Maggert said. ``So, I took a 3-iron and just tried to skim it off the water.''

Two shots, in particular, showed how grossly unfair the course conditions were after the storm. Both Stewart Cink and Woods hit high-trajectory shots that were slightly off line and came to rest in bunkers. Cink's ball was barely visible after burrowing deep into sand. It took a herculean effort for him to move the ball onto the green.

Woods' shot dove into a fairway trap and was so deep in the sand that Woods nearly came out of his shoes, risking injury, just to gouge the ball 50 yards down the fairway.

Under dry conditions, both shots would have been sitting on top of the sand, much easier, and safer, shots to play.

Golf purists will arch their eyebrows at the thought that there is anything unfair about America's champion having to endure not only 156 conpetitors but a grumpy Mother Nature as well. The conditions were the same for everyone. Isn't that the argument?

But the fact is that the conditions weren't the same for everyone Saturday. On a course that plays longer than a Fellini film festival even when it's parched, here's how the leaders fared in the fog and the haze and the muck: Maggert, 1-over; Lehman, 2-over; Woods, 4-over; Stewart Cink, 2-over; Hal Sutton, 2-over.

In addition, all of them must come back at 7 this morning to finish what they started Saturday, then sit around for about five hours before resuming the toughest leg of the hardest test in the game.

``Tomorrow is going to be a bit unusual, what with the finish of the third round,'' Lehman said. ``You want to come out here and play it sharp and hard. It's important to finish those five holes well. The course will be soft and therefore longer, making it harder to score.''

There's another factor Lehman and Maggert touched on - the psychological. Congressional's back nine has slapped the players in the head all week. It's the last place you'd choose to go to pad a lead or make up shots. Normally, you'd play it to protect what you'd achieved, then head home for a good night's sleep and an attitude adjustment so you'd begin then next round mentally sharp and ready to attack agressively.

The leaders won't have that basic luxury today.

``I start on the 15th, which is a par-5,'' Maggert said. ``I'm looking forward to a good start, but I will just play conservatively and go from there.''

That's not fair to him and too fair to the rest of the field. Is this any way to run a national championship? The sad facts surrounding Saturday's round make one think otherwise.

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