Third round of AT&T National delayed, no fans allowed on course The start of the third round of the AT&T National tournament at Congressional Country Club was delayed until 1 p.m. Saturday because of the massive storm that blew through the region late Friday night. No fans or volunteers were allowed on the grounds because of what one PGA Tour official called "unsafe" conditions. Debris was strewn around the course from nearly 40 trees that were uprooted by the storm, including a huge, 75-year-old tree came down in the middle of 14th hole, a tour official said. Mark Russell, the PGA Tour's vice president for rules and competition, credited the the club's maintenance crew with clearing out enough of the trees to make the course playable. "I can't tell you what a great job those guys did," Russell said during an early afternoon news conference. When I came here this morning, I didn't think that we had a chance to play. Trees down in fairways, cart paths blocked, just trees everywhere down, just right at the base. It was like a tornado went through here. It might have happened. Russell said that course superintendent Michal Giuffre and his staff began working shortly after the storm ended, starting with sawing two large trees that had fallen and blocked the entrance to the club. "It took them all night to cut them up," Russell said. They had to chainsaw them and get them out of the way just so people could get in. Russell said that the last time he can remember the PGA Tour taking such extreme measures as not allowing fans on the course also came at a Washington, D.C. area tournament. Six years ago at the Tournament Players Club at Avenel in nearby Potomac, heavy rains extended the tournament until a Tuesday finish, when Ben Curtis won playing before family members, tournament workers and the media. "It's not something that happens very often," Russell. We've dealt with severe weather before, out in Chicago, but this is kind of beyond that. There are some trees down that have been here a very long time. They've seen a lot of storms, but this one took them out. Second-round leader Hunter Mahan, who had been scheduled to tee off a 1:40 p.m., is scheduled to tee off at 3:10 p.m. Mahan shot a 6-under par 65 Friday for a 36-hole total of 7-under par 135, good for a 2-stroke lead. Tiger Woods, the host of the tournament, is five shots behind and is scheduled to tee off a 2:40. Those holding tickets for Saturday's third round will be allowed to use them on Sunday.