Lawrence leads Joburg Open as players flee before flight ban
JOHANNESBURG — South African golfer Thriston Lawrence shot another 6-under 65 to finish his second round atop the leaderboard of the Joburg Open on Friday, while a large number of European players withdrew because of a new COVID-19 variant.
Lawrence was on 12-under 130 at the halfway mark to lead compatriot Zander Lombard (67) by four strokes on a day when play was again interrupted by bad weather before being suspended because of fading light. Organizers then reduced the tournament to 54 holes to allow non-south African players and staff to return home sooner. That means both the end of the second round and the third — and final — round will be played Saturday. The tournament had already been overshadowed by news of European governments banning flights to counter the spread of a new COVID-19 variant. A World Health Organization panel named the variant “omicron” and classified it as a highly transmissible virus of concern.
The U.K. banned flights from South Africa and five other southern African countries and the 27-nation European Union later imposed its own temporary ban. Many of the British and Irish players scrambled to return home on Friday.