Third round at British Open moved back to Sunday due to weather

Officials of the British Open made one mistake Saturday and decided not to compound it with more disjointed play for the players.

So they moved the entire event back a day, with the third round going off Sunday and the 18-hole final Monday.

“We are going to play the third round tomorrow,” said Royal and Ancient Chief Executive Peter Dawson. “Then the final round Monday and crowning the champion Monday evening.

“That’s our plan.”

Saturday’s plan had been to finish the second round and also the third round. But after a start at 7 a.m., that was ended 32 minutes later, when high winds made the Old Course unplayable.

Dawson said that, while there was more difficult weather coming in, he did not expect it to be severe enough to derail the Monday finish.

The course here is not set up for easy starts on both the first and 10th tees, because so much of it runs side by side. Dawson said that the dual tee start, often used in tournaments these days, was considered and rejected.

He kept referring to the need for the tournament to get back to the British Open “normal mode.”

Woods falters late

The field was finally cut late Saturday to 80 players at even par.

Among those not making it was Tiger Woods, who bogeyed three of his last six holes, shot a 75 to go with his opening 76, and now has missed the cut in three of his last four majors. He made the final two days at this year’s Masters.

Other notables not making the cut included John Daly, Darren Clarke, Keegan Bradley, Bubba Watson, Bill Haas and Brandt Snedeker.

Snedeker played in the group with retiring Tom Watson on Friday and probably cost himself a chance to make the cut, because he willingly kept playing in the dark so Watson could get to the 18th hole and complete his ceremonial walk across the Swilcan Bridge. Had he not done it Friday, Watson would have ended up doing it in the wee hours of Saturday morning, and probably not even then, because play was postponed quickly and delayed for 10 1/2 hours.

The only other time Woods missed a British Open cut was in 2009.

Britons in the hunt

Positioned right behind leading Dustin Johnson’s 65-69 — 134 were two British players. Danny Willett of England was a stroke behind Johnson’s 10 under with his 66-69, and Paul Lawrie of Scotland was another shot back at 136, after his 70 Saturday. Willett didn’t have to play at all in the catchup round Saturday.

Lawrie, who won the title in 1999, is 46 and from Aberdeen.

Drafty dawn

Perhaps the best summation of the day came from Dawson, who said, “We woke up today to the power of the wind.”

bill.dwyre@latimes.com

Twitter: @DwyreLATimes