Alfred Dunhill Champs to be completed Monday as rain, lightning halt play

The final round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek outside the Kruger National Park will be completed on Monday after persistent rain and lightning prevented the tournament from wrapping up on Sunday.

And the two players in the best position to go all the way and win the title are good friends Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel who’ll continue their rounds on Monday with a three shot lead over fellow group partner and South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout.

When play was eventually called off around 5pm on Sunday Oosthuizen, Schwartzel and Bezuidenhout had completed seven holes.

Oosthuizen and Schwartzel

The two Major winners — Oosthuizen at the Open at St Andrews in 2010 and Schwartzel at the Masters at Augusta in 2011 — were 16-under-par, while Bezuidenhout was 13-under-par.

Oosthuizen and Schwartzel had teed off earlier on Sunday at 15-under-par each, five shots clear of Bezuidenhout.

Heavy rain and lightning forced the players off the course around 11am and they only return around 3.30pm before the rain returned later in the afternoon.

Schwartzel, a four-time winner of the tournament, had made one birdie in his completed seven holes, Oosthuizen had made two birdies and a bogey, while Bezuidenhout had made three birdies.

All of the top three men will have to play very poorly on Monday for one of them not to win the co-sanctioned Sunshine Tour, DP World Tour tournament.

Chasing pack

In tied fourth place, with eight holes completed and five shots off the leaders, are England’s Andy Sullivan and Matti Schmid of Germany.

Young Marco Penge, who was among the leading group after the second round on Friday, is back in sixth place on 10-under-par, and he’s followed by the rest of the field, who’ll all be looking to make as much money and collect as many points as possible ahead of the final event on the “southern” swing at the start of the new season, in Mauritius, this coming weekend.

While the golfers teed off in groups of three on the first and 10^th tee boxes on Sunday, no-one was able to complete their final round.

Weather permitting, the final round action at Leopard Creek will continue from 9am on Monday morning.