PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Storms left the leaders only two hours of daylight to play Sunday, which is all Tiger Woods needed to take the lead in The Players Championship.

Trailing untested Jerry Kelly by two strokes when the rains finally subsided, Woods caught him with a birdie-eagle start, chipping in from 90 feet, and then surged ahead with a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 9 when play was suspended.

The horn sounded as Woods was in the fairway, but he elected to finish the hole. He punched a sand wedge into birdie range and made the putt as darkness descended.

Woods, trying to capture the only prestigious trophy he doesn't own, was at 12 under to lead Kelly and Masters champion Vijay Singh by one stroke.

Bernhard Langer was another stroke back on the 10th hole.

Rain pelted the Stadium Course right after Woods and Kelly went out to the practice range, suspending the final round for 2 hours, 52 minutes and leading to the second straight year of a Monday finish.

By the look of it, the conclusion could be just as thrilling.

A year ago, Hal Sutton built a three-stroke lead before the rains came, returned on Monday and held off Woods to win by one.

The cast of characters is a twice the size this time.

Singh, in great form with his Masters defense just two weeks away, had the lead until missing the ninth fairway and taking bogey. Langer, who hasn't won in four years, was plugging along with three birdies on a soft Sawgrass course and still in position.

"I would have loved to play on because I was feeling comfortable with my swing," Singh said. "But you can't do anything about it."

Kelly, trying to become the first player to earn his first tour victory in The Players Championship, wasn't backing down, either.

Kelly said he would not be intimidated, that Woods was just another player who had as much pressure — if not more — to win the $6 million tournament. And he lived up to those words.

Then again, Tiger lived up to his reputation.

When the gallery returned from the rain delay and crammed into the amphitheater around the first tee, it sounded like the start of a heavyweight fight.

Woods landed the first punch.

His approach from 155 yards didn't go an inch past that, stopping 6 feet left of the hole for birdie. Kelly came up short of the ridge and had to make a par putt from equal distance.

Half of his two-stroke lead was gone after one hole.

Next up was the 532-yard second hole, where Kelly appeared to get the advantage when his snap hook went through the rough and on top of the pine straw, enabling him to hit a clear 3-wood to about 25 feet for an eagle putt.

Woods was left in the rough, couldn't reach the green but left himself in a good spot to the right. Chipping back toward a back-left pin some 90 feet away, the ball skipped up the ridge and trickled in for eagle as the crowd roared.

Such was Woods' focus that he barely smiled, tapping fists with caddie Steve Williams and walking to the cup as if he had tapped in for par. Kelly two-putted for birdie and shared the lead for the first time since late Friday morning.

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Two holes later, even that was gone. Kelly hit into the left rough and his approach toward the fat part of the green narrowly cleared the creek guarding the greens. From the top shelf, his putt ran past the hole onto the fringe, and he took only his fourth bogey of the tournament.

Singh missed an 8-foot par putt on the third, but recovered with birdies on three of the next four holes to pull into a tie with Woods.

In another swift turn of events, Singh became the third leader of the long final round when Woods' drive on No. 7 went right into the trees, landing in a wet patch of sand amid the straw. He caught a tree limb with his approach and dropped into a bunker, blasted out to 15 feet and missed the par putt to fall back to 11 under.

But he got it back, walking off the course on a positive note. He returns Monday for the second straight year, this time with the lead.

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