Poulter’s late miscues open door for wild Monday Honda finish

With one swing, everything changed late on Sunday at The Honda Classic.

Ian Poulter, searching for his first stroke-play PGA Tour win in the United States, was on the tee with an 8-iron at the par-3 fifth hole with a three-shot lead. He did the unthinkable, shanking his ball way right. The ball bounced off a cart path and into a water hazard. After a drop, the Englishman couldn’t get up-and-down for bogey. Sensing opportunity, Patrick Reed made birdie from just off the green.

Suddenly, there was a tie at the top in the waning moments of a long day at PGA National.

On the next hole, Poulter lost the lead when his tee shot at the par-4 snapped left and into a water hazard. Poulter went on to make bogey. However, Reed, who made par at No. 6, didn’t stay in charge for long.

Poulter’s tee shot to the 199-yard, par-3 seventh to just 3 feet, setting up a bounce-back birdie to end the day at 7 under par. Reed made bogey to fall out of the lead, a shot However, Poulter has company atop the leaderboard.

Paul Casey, who was part of the playoff last week at the Northern Trust Open, charged hard in the nine holes of the final round he played. He birdied three of the first four holes, then capped off his day by stuffing his approach to the par-4 ninth to 6 feet. The birdie has him tied with Poulter, with his ball sitting off the 10th fairway when play was called due to darkness.

The tournament will be wide open on Monday morning when play resumes at 8 a.m., with nine players sitting within four shots of the lead.

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

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