Joburg washout sees England’s Waring left in a tie for the lead
ENGLAND’S Paul Waring holds a share of the lead going into today’s final round of the Joburg Open after continued poor weather in South Africa saw the tourney reduced to 54 holes.
Delays had already left the event behind schedule, and although the second round was completed yesterday morning, thunderstorms and heavy rain flooded the Royal Johannesburg & Kensington course before anybody could complete their third round, with the top 15 on the leaderboard all still to tee off.
That forced officials to reduce the event to 54 holes, with tournament director David Williams saying: “The course is now completely waterlogged. We’re going to restart round three – which will also now be the final round – at 07.00 tomorrow morning.
“The forecast for tomorrow 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 onto an already- saturated course so we’ll just keep our fingers crossed that we have a reasonably good evening, that we can restart tomorrow and get finished over three rounds.”
Waring held a one- shot lead overnight but played the closing holes of his second round in oneover-par after a bogey on the 18th.
The 32-year-old, who is looking for his first European Tour victory after several years ravaged by injury, sits on 11- under- par alongside South Africa’s Darren Fichardt, who did not hit a shot on
Saturday having completed his second round on Friday.
South African pair Dean Burmester and Jacques Kruyswijk are tied for third on 10 under.
The leading Scot is David Dysdale at eight under.
RYAN PALMER and Wesley Bryan were the joint leaders at the halfway stage of the Honda Classic in Palm Beach.
Palmer, chasing a fourth PGA Tour title, shot a five-under-par 65, with Bryan going round in two more, as both sit on nine-underpar after the opening two rounds.
Palmer has only recently returned to the tour after his wife’s
battle with breast cancer, which has helped him put some perspective into his game.
“When you get inside the ropes, everything kind of goes away. You enjoy those four or five hours,” he said. “It helps make golf less aggravating at times. You realise it’s just a game we’re playing.
“Things are clear and she’s doing awesome.”
Rickie Fowler is a shot further back on eight under after a second successive 66 while Indian Anirban Lahiri is on seven under.
England’s Tyrrel Hatton is on five- under, one shot ahead of compatriot Luke Donald.