Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland hits off the first tee during Round Three of the 94th PGA Championship at the Ocean Course on August 11, 2012 in Kiawah Island, South Carolina.
(August 10, 2012 – Source: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images North America)

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Rory McIlroy made back-to-back birdies late in the third round of the PGA Championship, opening a three-shot lead at the start of what should be a long day at Kiawah Island.

Players returned to The Ocean Course on Sunday morning after the third round was halted by rain late Saturday afternoon. Tiger Woods immediately missed a 7-foot par putt to fall six strokes behind the lead, but he rebounded on the back nine a bit with birdies on Nos. 11 and 13.

At the top of the leaderboard, nobody was opening any real distance until McIlroy birdied the 15th and 16th holes. That was after the 2011 U.S. Open champion made five birdies on the front nine Saturday.

McIlroy was at 7 under par, three strokes ahead of Trevor Immelman and Carl Pettersson. Bo Van Pelt (67) and Adam Scott were another shot back.

Play was suspended Saturday because of storms in the area, giving Woods all night to contemplate the crucial putt he’d face in the morning on No. 8. When he finally hit it, the ball rolled off the edge of the cup, dropping him to even par.

But Woods was showing signs of bouncing back after shooting 40 on the front nine. His second birdie came on the 13th hole, a tough par 4 that McIlroy, Immelman and Pettersson all bogeyed.

Woods wasn’t pleased with his drive on the par-4 15th. His club went sailing when he let go of it on the follow through, and the ball flew well to the right of the fairway, landing in a grassy, sandy area not too far from the beach.

Woods was able to recover, hitting a terrific shot to the green. He then came up limping for a few seconds before pulling what appeared to be some sort of prickly brush off the right leg of his pants.

He looked fine when he arrived at the green and two-putted for par.

Vijay Singh dropped back to 2 under with bogeys on Nos. 12 and 14 and a double bogey on 15.

The 26 players who didn’t finish the third round returned Sunday morning. The final round was to be played in threesomes off both tees later in the day, rare for a major championship.

It was the first time since 2008 that the PGA Championship didn’t complete three rounds on Saturday. Some players had to go 36 holes on the final day that year, and Padraig Harrington wound up winning his second straight major.

JAMIE FARR TOLEDO CLASSIC

SYLVANIA, Ohio (AP) — South Koreans Jiyai Shin, I.K. Kim, So Yeon Ryu and Hee Kyung Seo dominated the leaderboard, sharing the top spot at 11-under 202 through the third round of the Jamie Farr Toledo Classic.

Two more South Koreans, Inbee Park and Chella Choi, were a shot back along with Japan’s Mika Miyazato.

Shin and Kim each shot 5-under 66 for the low rounds of the day, while Ryu had a 67 and Seo a 68.

South Koreans have dominated the LPGA Tour in recent years, but have seldom taken over a tournament like the one at Highland Meadows. In addition to filling the top four spots and six of the top seven, South Korean players had seven of the top 11 positions and 11 of the top 25 through 54 holes.

U.S. WOMEN’S AMATEUR

CLEVELAND (AP) — Lydia Ko and Jaye Marie Green advanced to the 36-hole final in the U.S. Women’s Amateur, winning semifinal matches in wet and windy conditions at The Country Club.

The 15-year-old Ko, the South Korean-born New Zealander who tops the world amateur rankings, beat Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn 3 and 1.

The 18-year-old Green, from Boca Raton, Fla., edged Canada’s Nicole Zhang 2-up.

At 15 years, 3 months, 18 days, Ko is the second-youngest finalist in Women’s Amateur history, and could become the second-youngest champion. Both records are held by Kimberly Kim, who was 14 years, 11 months, 21 days when she won the 2006 tournament. Ko won the New South Wales Open in January in Australia at 14 to become the youngest player to win a professional tour event.