Wild finish awaits windswept Shell Houston Open

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Greg Norman is the early clubhouse leader at the Shell Houston Open after finishing his third round late Saturday.

HUMBLE, Texas -- This one is as unpredictable as Thursday's gnarly winds.

We're 24 hours from the conclusion of this Shell Houston Open and we won't even venture a guess about who'll be holding the Waterford Crystal Sunday night.

There's no Tiger-esque front-runner. No short list. No way to guess what twists and turns -- like those plots on Lost or Heroes or a week on Wall Street -- will come flying out of nowhere.

Yes, this event has a history -- of first-time winners, of big-name winners, of out-of-nowhere winners, of playoffs and of Australian champs. It just depends on what part of what decade pops up in your browser.

RELATED LINKS

Leaderboard: Saturday scores
The Live Report
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After all, this event has been around since 1946 when Byron Nelson beat Ben Hogan and Sam Snead to win the inaugural event. It's gone through Curtis Strange and Vijay Singh phases, as well as Mike Sullivan and Jim Govern and Fred Funk moments where that trio came out of nowhere to win. And there have been 19 playoffs in 61 events.

Whew.

The current course -- Redstone Golf Club's Tournament Course -- has given us a pair of Aussie winners in Stuart Appleby and Adam Scott and fresh-faced Johnson Wagner last year, who played his way into the Masters with his first PGA TOUR win.

This year? We double-dog dare you to come up with a logical conclusion to tomorrow's final round. Throwing a dart does not count.

Neither does going with the biggest name on the leaderboard since it's not Tiger Woods. Way too much golf left for that.

Even if your candidates -- pick one -- are Greg Norman and Fred Couples.

Norman finished his third round and is the darkness delayed 54-hole leader in the clubhouse at 6-under par. Couples is one shot back and playing like he's 29, not 49.

It figures.

This is one of those weeks you can't explain.

It's one where not getting blown away Thursday morning or playing 18 holes in one day was a big accomplishment. The first round took parts of two days. Ditto for the second round. And now we're faced with an amazing 79-player race and a Sunday that will open with the conclusion of the third round and jet right into the fourth round.

Players will remain in their third-round pairings and if someone gets hot, the winner could finish an hour or more ahead of the quintet of 36-hole leaders -- Geoff Ogilvy, Paul Casey, John Senden, Colt Knost and Tommy Armour III -- who'll be the last to tee off again in the final round. And we might add that if you glance at the top of the weather/darkness delayed leaderboard you'll find just two players -- Couples and J.B. Holmes -- who got the worst of conditions everyday.

You'll also find nine players, including still-on-the-course leader Bo Van Pelt and Augusta native Charles Howell III, within three shots of the lead who are hoping to play their way into that one last spot in the Masters field.

But hang on. It'll change in a heartbeat.

It did even after the horn blew at 8:34 p.m. ET when several players elected to finish out the holes they had started.

A few minutes earlier, the leaderboard was changing every few seconds. Couples birdies the eighth to jump into a tie for third. Knost birdies the sixth to go up by one. John Mallinger double-bogeys 14 to fall off the board. Van Pelt is lurking.

Knost goes from leading by one, to a five-way tie, to trailing Van Pelt by one. Couples birdies 10 to finish the day one shot off the lead, and Norman, who finished the 18th hole after play was called, is sitting five back and smiling since he's one of the few happy to be sleeping in Sunday morning. He'll also be playing two hours in front of the final group.

Yikes.

See what you're in for? And for the better part of 27 more holes. Not just 18.

Norman storming toward Augusta. Couples looking for his second Shell Houston Open win in six years. Padraig Harrington, who's focusing in on next week and a chance for his third consecutive major. Casey, who would like to make up for his loss to Ogilvy in the final of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play. Ogilvy who could claim a third win this year and grab the attention he deserves next week.

This list is endless. Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson. Scott Verplank and Justin Leonard. Thirty-one players within five shots of Van Pelt. Guys like Anthony Kim within six.

And, well, we hate to mention it, but more weather on the way.

They're predicting sunny skies, but more wind -- gusts to 20 mph.

And with greens running 13-ish on the Stimp? Hang on.

It should be an unbelievable finish to an already wild week.