CHASKA, Minn., Aug. 15 (UPI) -- Fred Funk, one of the shortest hitters in the era of power golf, battled through gusting winds and a rain delay of almost three hours Thursday to fire a 4-under 68 that gave him a share of the lead with Jim Furyk at the PGA Championship.
Tiger Woods, trying to become the first player to win three major titles in the same year twice, escaped with a 1-under 71 at the Hazeltine Golf Club despite a series of tee shots that wound up among the spectators instead of on the fairway.
Moments after the threesome of Woods, newly crowned British Open champion Ernie Els and defending PGA titleholder David Toms walked off the first tee, play was halted because of the threat of lightning. During the opening round of the U.S. Open played at Hazeltine 11 years ago, lightning killed a gallery member.
Although the course was not hit by heavy rains, the lightning threat remained and action could not resume for two hours, 43 minutes -- pushing back tee times and making it impossible for the first round to be completed Thursday.
There were 39 players left on the course when dark fell, but with no further delays on Friday, the tournament should get back on schedule by the end of the second round.
After the severe weather moved through, the sun came out and the winds kicked up, making the 7,360-yard course a difficult test.
Furyk and Funk solved the problems, however, with Furyk making four birdies on the front nine to finish his round. Funk, one-time golf coach at the University of Maryland, rolled in a 20-foot birdie putt at the 17th to get to 4-under and then saved par at the 18th with a seven-foot putt after sending his second shot over the green.
Funk, although he is known as a straight driver, ranks only 136th out of 198 players on the PGA Tour in driving distance.
Furyk did not make the cut in any of the three previous major events this year and Funk did not even play in any of them.
The co-leaders had a one-shot advantage over Australian Peter Lonard, a rookie on the PGA Tour who has not missed a cut all year, and 22-year-old Justin Rose of England. Rose finished fourth at the 1998 British Open at the age of 17 and immediately turned pro, but he missed the cut in his first 21 appearances on the European Tour.
After winning on three different continents this year, Rose is making his pro debut in the United States.
Included among those two shots back at 2-under 70 were two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen and Davis Love III, who had the lead for much of the day but who double bogeyed the difficult, par-4 16th. Also shooting 70 were Mark Calcavecchia and 1987 champion Jeff Sluman.
Greg Norman was at 2-under through 15 and Retief Goosen through 14.
Joining Woods at 71 were Tom Lehman, Steve Lowery, Angel Cabrera, Padraig Harrington and former champion Vijay Singh. Among those at 1-under and still on the course was Nick Faldo --- who had one hole to play.
Phil Mickelson was 3-over through 15 when dark fell.
John Daly finished just ahead of dark with a 5-over 77. That score was impressive considering the fact he took an 11 at the par-4 16th, his eighth hole of the day.
Woods birdied two of the first three holes and then fought his way to the clubhouse. After playing the back nine first, Woods' tee shot at the first hole sailed into the rough and hit a marshall.
At the par-5 seventh hole, his tee ball soared well left of the fairway and bounced over the heads of several gallery members. And at his final hole, the par-4 ninth, he drove into a fairway bunker on the adjacent 18th fairway -- narrowly missing a caddy who was raking the sand.
Through it all, however, Woods saved par after par to put himself in position to win his third major championship of the year. In 2000, Woods won the U.S. Open, British Open and PGA to join Ben Hogan as the only players to capture three majors in the same season.
Woods won the Masters and U.S. Open earlier this year, but saw his hope for the Grand Slam blown away in the third round of the British Open, when he shot an 81 in bad weather at Muirfield.
Els shot an even-par 72 Thursday, as did Rocco Mediate, Pierre Fulke, former champion Steve Elkington and current Players Championship titleholder Craig Perks.
Among those who began their rounds late in the afternoon, David Duval, John Daly and 2001 U.S. Open champ Retief Goosen had picked up an early birdie. Phil Mickelson parred his opening two holes.
"It was hard to pull a club," Woods said. "The wind not only changed in intensity, but it came from different directions. When you were coming out of the trees, you didn't know if you were hitting into the wind or against it.
"I didn't hit my driver particularly well, that's for sure. But everything else was pretty good."
Furyk captured The Memorial Tournament earlier this year, but he has struggled at the biggest events.
"It has been a frustrating year," said Furyk, who next month will represent the United States at the Ryder Cup matches. "I have either played really well or really poorly and I have missed more cuts this year than the last three or four years combined.
"At the majors, my game wasn't ready. But one good major would turn it around."
Love stood at 4-under when he came to the tricky, par-4 16th, but he put his tee shot through the fairway and into a small stream that runs down the left side.
"I hit hit a couple of bad tee shots, but other than that I played well," Love said. "I made a couple of long putts for birdie, but it was a wild round. It could have been any kind of number, from 66 on up. But I'm excited about it I can look at the leaderboard and know that I'm in the championship."
