No sweet dreams for Els

A line of thunderstorms pulled the plug on the Arnold Palmer Invitational yesterday just when things were starting to get interesting. After building a five-shot lead on the field through 12 holes, Ernie Els inexplicably started leaking oil with a double bogey and a bogey just before the rains came.

So when play resumes today at 10 a.m., the Big Easy is going to have to work a lot harder for his second straight victory on the PGA Tour. Instead of a comfortable five-shot lead, he'll be protecting a two-shot lead over Kevin Na with four holes remaining.

If Els doesn't get a good night's sleep, he'll have himself to blame. He hit driver on No. 13 when he didn't have to and it led to a double bogey when the tee shot wound up in a bunker. Then a poor shot out of a green-side bunker on the 14th led to a bogey and the plot suddenly thickened.

"Not a very nice way to go into a bit of a break," Els said. "I'll be thinking about it all night. It won't be a very peaceful night, I don't think, but I'm going to come out tomorrow and get it done somehow."

Els, who ended the longest drought of career at Doral two weeks ago when he won the CA Championship by four shots, is 11 under. Na is 9 under and on the front of the green on the 15th hole, facing an 80-foot birdie putt. Ostrander native Ben Curtis and Chris Couch, playing in the final group with Els, are 8 under. Retief Goosen is also 8 under through 17 holes.

Curtis, a former standout at Kent State, is on track for his best showing of the season. In five tournaments thus far he has made three cuts and won just $41,708, his highest finish being a tie for 42nd in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego.

NBC analyst Johnny Miller remarked during TV coverage Saturday that Curtis had seemingly come out of nowhere in challenging for the title. Although Curtis has won a British Open and amassed more the $9 million in earnings in his career, he doesn't seem to command much respect. The nicest thing Miller had to say about him during the broadcast yesterday was that Curtis is a grinder.

Information from the Associated Press and ESPN contributed to this post.