Romero beats Monster, rain once he stops sweating the wet stuff

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- Andres Romero found too much water a day earlier, then completely dodged it on Saturday afternoon.

As a result, he was sitting both high and dry on the leaderboard at the 90th PGA Championship on Saturday when few others could say the same.

'I played an excellent round, almost perfect,' Andres Romero says. (AP)

Hours after he dunked two balls in the lake Friday on the 16th hole to seemingly ruin his chances, the gunslinging Argentine tied the competitive course record at difficult storied Oakland Hills with a 5-under 65 and finished in time to avoid a massive afternoon downpour that resulted in a suspension of play before the leaders hit a shot.

Romero had jumped 40 spots up the leaderboard and into a tie for eighth when play was formally called for the day, and all seven of the players ahead of him have at least 14 holes left just to complete their third rounds. The top six never hit a shot and are facing a 36-hole grind over one of the world's most vigorous tests Sunday.

Compared to them, he's halfway to a champagne shower.

One of seven players to break par in the opening round with a 1-under 69, Romero was at level par when he experienced a double-dunking episode at the 406-yard 16th, ruining his round, souring his mood and nearly wrecking the entire week. First, a 9-iron approach got held up in the wind and fell into the lake fronting the green.

After the 26-year-old rising star took a penalty drop, he spun back a lob wedge shot off the steeply sloped green into the water for another penalty, then finally found the putting surface and two-putted for an ugly eight. Miffed because he felt he'd hit two good shots, he double-bogeyed the 18th, his ninth hole of the day, and eventually finished with a 78.

As he recounted the episode after his round Saturday, a violent thunderstorm nailed Oakland Hills, halting play and causing a course evacuation. Romero, who had finished moments before the storm hit, by then was seated safely in the media tent, where raindrops were nonetheless percolating through the roof onto the inhabitants.

Drip, drip, drip. It grew steadily worse.

Yet with every peal of thunder and pelting wave of heavy rain, the boyish Romero kept looking up at the roof and grinning --for good reason. The leaders hadn't even begun their desperate dogpaddle, either.

Friday, he wanted to jump in the lake alongside his two doomed golf balls. It took all the concentration he could muster not to lose his cool completely.

"I couldn't come back after that eight," he said. "I made a double-bogey at the 18th because I was mad I was almost fighting for the leader, for the lead in the tournament, and suddenly I was trying to make the cut, so I was going mad the whole round the rest of the round."

He got over it -- eventually.