Saturday 25 February 2017 14:15, UK
The Joburg Open has been reduced to a 54-hole tournament after thunderstorms forced another abandonment of play on Saturday.
Paul Waring and Darren Fichardt shared the halfway lead when the second round finally concluded early on the third day, but they were among 45 players who did not get to start their third rounds before storms and torrential rain rendered the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington course unplayable.
Players ran for shelter as the course became waterlogged in a matter of minutes, forcing officials to abandon play for the day in the hope the weather will relent and give them a chance to complete three rounds on Sunday.
The region had already been hit with over 200 millimetres of rain over the last week, with Saturday's outburst dumping another 35mm within an hour of the heavens opening.
Tournament director David Williams telling the European Tour website: "The course is now completely waterlogged. We're going to restart round three - which will also now be the final round - at 07.00 Sunday morning.
"The forecast for Sunday is pretty good. I think we'll just have to wait and see how much damage is done today because at the moment it's coming down very hard and obviously it's coming down onto an already saturated course so we'll just keep our fingers crossed that we have a reasonably good evening, that we can restart and get finished over three rounds."
Earlier, Waring had resumed with a one-shot lead with Fichardt already in the clubhouse on 11 under, but the Englishman could manage only five straight pars before dropping a shot at the 18th - his lone bogey of the round.
The 32-year-old signed for a 67 which left him level with Fichardt and one ahead of Dean Burmester and Jacques Kruyswijk, while defending champion Haydn Porteous is a shot further adrift.
"I'm more than happy. It was obviously frustrating to come back and be one over for the last four holes," Waring told the European Tour.
"I hit a good tee shot down 15 and didn't get up and down from around the green. And then we had to just stand around on 18, which you can't do. I had to hack it out. I hit a nice pitch in and then didn't hole the putt.
"But I'll still take it and I'm very happy with the last two days."
