Harrington edged to three under on a wet day at Augusta

The Irishman picked up two shots to get within three of the lead after six holes when play was halted.

Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez was the only other European to progress as Ulsterman Darren Clarke slipped back.

Jose Maria Olazabal trod water, as David Howell, Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia and Thomas Bjorn struggled.

Harrington, 34, began his third round after a storm delay of more than four hours and quickly thundered into a tie for fourth after birdies at the 2nd and 3rd.

Ryder Cup colleague Jimenez picked up two shots before the suspension and on the resumption he ground out a series of pars before a third birdie came on 14.

The cigar-smoking Spaniard was left on one under with one hole to play when the hooter sounded to signal the end of play for the day at 0040 BST.

Howell amassed a triple-bogey seven on the 1st to fall back

Clarke, meanwhile, began after the storm on two under in a tie for fifth but dropped a shot at the 1st and was unable to make amends by the time he stopped on the 5th.

England's Howell, 30, was tied with Clarke overnight and also had to wait for the storm to clear before starting his third round.

But he immediately ran up a triple-bogey seven on the 1st, via a tree and two bunkers, and compounded his error with a bogey at the 3rd to plummet to two over, where he remained through six holes at the hooter.

Olazabal, a two-time Masters champion, was one over for the tournament when play was halted for the first time.

After the restart the 40-year-old Spaniard mixed two birdies with three bogeys to slide back to two over alongside Swede Carl Pettersson, who maintained an even keel with two birdies and two bogeys through 15 holes.

Donald, another starter who played either side of the interval, slumped to a round of 76 and six over for the tournament.

And he was not alone.

The unhappy Garcia collected five bogeys by the 10th and amassed a triple-bogey seven at the 11th before a lone birdie at 15 took him to eight over par overall, the same number as Denmark's Bjorn, who carded 76.