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| Heavy rain forced the postponement of the second round of the South African Women’s Open at Southbroom Golf Club on Saturday. The tournament has had to be reduced to 36 holes, with the second and final round scheduled to be played on Sunday. Credit: Rogan Ward. |
SOUTHBROOM, KwaZulu-Natal (20 April 2013) – The second round of the South African Women’s Open has been postponed because of heavy rains and a waterlogged Southbroom Golf Club course.
No play was possible on Saturday, and at 11:30am Ladies European Tour Tournament Director Yvonne Cassidy announced that play would be abandoned for the day.
“As a result of overnight rain and persistent rain today we’ve had to abandon Saturday’s play completely. The tournament is going to be reduced to 36 holes with the hope that we can finish play on Sunday,” said Cassidy.
“We have a couple of options now. The first is that we make a cut on the scores that we already have, so that would be a cut after the first 18 holes. It would be to 60 professional players and ties, which as it stands at the moment would be 68 players. We haven’t come to this decision yet. It will be weather driven so at 17:00 today we will make that final call.
“But I have been so surprised at how this course has held up because it’s been so saturated over the past few weeks with the heavy flooding that they’ve experienced in this region. “
After the first round, Norway’s Marianne Skarpnord leads the field on three-under-par 69. She is one shot clear of Finland’s Minea Blomqvist, South Africans Ashleigh Simon and Stacy Bregman, England’s Charley Hull, Sweden’s Camilla Lennarth, American Katie Burnett and Germany’s Nina Holleder.
South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace is three strokes off the lead, and American Cheyenne Woods – the niece of Tiger Woods – is at four over par.
