No justice at Torrey Pines as Brandt Snedeker cards an amazing rain-swept 69

Reporting from LA JOLLA â€”  Brandt Snedeker heard the quick blast of the horn and interrupted himself mid-sentence.

“Oh, I don’t want to hear that,� he told reporters at the Farmers Insurance Open as a steady rain fell Sunday.

Snedeker had just shot a three-under 69 on the Torrey Pines South Course, completing one of the finest rounds of his career in weather conditions he described as akin to the worst the British Open can muster, but the horn was not his friend. It suspended play, sparing his peers from trudging through the miserable conditions while Snedeker waited in the clubhouse and watched a possible victory come to him.

Not a single one of the other 70 players was under par for the day.

The average score of those who had finished: 78.9.

Teeing off 100 minutes in front of the final group, Snedeker charged from 27th place at the start of the fourth round to within one stroke of the lead at six under par.

Snedeker’s good friend, Jimmy Walker, was on top of the board at one over for the day and seven under overall through 10 holes. K.J. Choi, the third-round co-leader, was three over through 10 and tied with Snedeker at minus-six.

There were five more players at three under or better.

Then: “Bleeeep!�

“I want them to keep playing, since I had to play through this all day,� Snedeker said after the horn. “I want them to be out there going through the misery that I had to go through. I’m not wishing any bad on them; it’s just tough out there.

“It’s not going to help my cause if they come back tomorrow and it’s nice and not windy.�

After three stoppages, the players were halted for the final time at 3:26 p.m. Sunday, forced to return on Monday for an 8 a.m. start, and not all hope is lost for Snedeker.

Though the forecast is for partly cloudy skies, PGA Tour meteorologist Stewart Williams predicted 20- to 30-mph winds early, possibly gusting later up to 40 mph. He said the strongest recorded gusts Sunday were about 49 mph.

The wind and its potential danger is forcing extraordinary measures for the tournament. Fans and volunteers will not be allowed on the course Monday “in the interest of public safety,� according to tournament director Peter Ripa.

Trees and limbs fell on the course Sunday, Ripa said, including a eucalyptus on the front nine of the South course that crushed a chain-link fence when it tipped eastward, in the opposite direction of spectators.

Torrey has experienced some weather issues in the past, including fog delays that forced a Monday finish to Tiger Woods’ seventh and last Farmers win here in 2013. But officials who have been here for decades could not remember a more violent weather day in which the golfers played.

“It’s like playing a British Open on a U.S. Open setup,� Snedeker said. “This course is so tough; it’s blowing 25 mph, gusting out there, windy and rainy. It’s really tough.

“I wish I could say why I shot what I shot today. It was one of those days where you throw everything out of your mind and go play golf and grind as best as you possibly could.�

Snedeker’s only bogey came at the first. He then made eight straight pars, draining a couple of long putts to save himself. He then produced a birdie flurry, starting at the 10th and making three straight from the 12th through the 14th.

“We were playing to win it,� said Scott Vail, Snedeker’s longtime caddie. “We thought with the way he was going, if we could birdie the last three — that was our goal.�

Snedeker hit all three of the last greens in regulation, but he couldn’t make a birdie. He was upset with himself at the par-five 18th, where he blew a fairway wood over the green in two, but got too much club on his chip and sent it 15 feet past the hole, from where he two-putted for par.

“He’s probably kicking himself,� said CBS commentator Nick Faldo. “It would be over if he’d got up and down [for birdie] on 18. I think they’d just have given him the prize.�

Many players handled the conditions far worse. Third-round co-leader Scott Brown bogeyed six of his first 10 holes, including four straight before the final stoppage. Dustin Johnson was eight over through 14 holes — three times suffering consecutive bogeys on the front and then making three straight bogeys on the back.

The worst completed score was 10-over 82 from former Masters and U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera. The Argentine had three triple bogeys on the front in shooting 43.