Monday 22 October 2018 13:57, UK
Sergio Garcia's bid for a hat-trick of Andalucia Valderrama Masters titles is on hold until Monday after the tournament again fell victim to the adverse weather in southern Spain.
Thunderstorms have caused numerous suspensions in play throughout the week and forced organisers to reduce the event to 54 holes, and further delays on Sunday curtailed the action with Garcia leading by three shots after seven holes of his final round.
The threat of lightning halted play for an hour shortly after the third round got underway, and the players were called back to the clubhouse again shortly before 2pm local time and were unable to return due to the dangerous weather system loitering overhead.
Garcia led by four overnight following his superb 64 on Saturday, and he consolidated his advantage as he opened with three solid pars before rolling in a 20-foot putt for birdie at the fourth.
But a rare lapse with the putter handed the shot straight back at the fifth, and the defending champion steadied himself with two more pars before the klaxons sounded with the home favourite remaining on top of the leaderboard on 10 under.
Garcia's closest challenger is now fellow veteran Lee Westwood, who was four under through eight holes after starting a run of three consecutive birdies with a 25-foot putt from the fringe at the second, and he had just holed from 10 feet for birdie at the eighth to get to seven under when play was suspended.
Westwood, who has 17-year-old son Sam on his bag this week, is alone in second with Shane Lowry and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano a further stroke off the pace.
Lowry was on a nice run of three birdies in four holes before a par at the eighth was his last action of the day, while Fernandez-Castano is two under for his round and also has 10 holes to complete when the players return on Monday morning.
Ashley Chesters was Garcia's closest rival after 36 holes, but the Englishman endured a horror start to his final round as he carded back-to-back double-bogeys at the third and fourth holes before dragging himself back to four under with birdies at the next two.
The third and final round is scheduled to resume, weather permitting, at 8:10am (BST) on Monday morning.
