When the floodgates open in Scotland, the golf clubs can only be kept in the trunk of the car.
The organizers of the Dunhill Links tournament were forced to move Saturday’s third round to Sunday after the three courses on which it was played, St. Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns, were flooded.
But on Sunday it still rained and it was decided to shorten the tournament to 54 holes, with the third and final round to be played on Monday, weather permitting.
England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick is ahead at -13, with Scotland’s Grant Forrest and Spain’s Nacho Elvira together second at -12 in this money-rich tournament (prize money almost R118 million) in the European series and DP World Tour.
In the Pro-am division, Fitzpatrick and his mother, Susan, are second behind the Frenchman Julien Guerrier and Stephane Connery, the stepson of James Bond, Sean Connery.
* In the US PGA Series’ Sanderson Farms Championship played at the Jackson Country Club in Tennessee, South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout finished sixth (271.-17), although he finished just one shot behind the five joint leaders has.
The tournament was won by the American Luke List (270, -18) who beat his compatriots Scott Stallings and Ben Griffin and the two Swedes Henrik Norlander and Ludvig Aaberg in a playoff.
Bezuidenhout, who shot scores of 69, 66, 68 and 68, tied with Carl Yuan of China and Mark Hubbard of the USA on 271.
Among the other South Africans, Erik van Rooyen and Garrick Higgo also performed solidly and together finished on 276 shots (-12) in the clubhouse.
Bezuidenhout earned 276 550 US dollars (about R5.4 million).
* In the local Sunshine Series, 22-year-old Robin Williams opened his Sunshine Series account when he easily won the Fortress Invitational tournament, played on the Glendower course in Edenvale, by six shots.
Williams, who went into the final round with a lead of four shots, scored 68 shots in the final round and finished on 269 shots (-19).
That included four birdies on five holes between the 5th and 9th that sealed his victory.
The American Dan Erickson was second (275, -13) after scoring an albatross (three shots under par) on the fourth hole (number 5).
According to the Sunshine Series, Erickson was followed by South Africa’s Danie van Niekerk (278, -10) with Jacques P de Villiers, Nikhil Rama and Michael Hollick together fourth on 279 (-9).
