The 2026 Alfred Dunhill Championship will now be played over 54 holes after play was abandoned early on Saturday due to flooding.
Tee times were moved to early in the morning at Royal Johannesburg Club in an attempt to beat the forecast rain, and 40 players were able to get their third rounds under way.
No player managed to complete more than six holes, though, before a further downpour forced play to be suspended.
Tournament director David Williams said: “It’s tough when you have to do this but we suspended twice this morning and the course became unplayable very quickly, particularly the lower-lying holes.
“Because it’s been raining throughout the day and there is more on its way, we’ve taken the decision to suspend the third round.
“We’re going to restart tomorrow at 6.30am, there’s still about five or six games to tee off, but the third round will be the final round.”
The top 21 on the overnight leaderboard, headed by Eugenio Chacarra at 15 under par and stretching back to players at eight under, were yet to begin their third rounds when play was halted.
Of those who did start play, nine under was the best score - Pierre Viallaneix, Samuel Simpson, Dean Burmester and Christiaan Bezuidenhout birdied the first to reach that mark while Haydn Porteous made an eagle. James Morrison had two birdies in his four holes to reach eight under.
Williams continued: “The good thing is now that the players know what’s going on. They know the tournament’s over 54 holes, they can go back now and have a rest and a break and a bit of practice or whatever they want to do.
“The idea, or the hope, is that it should stop raining tonight at about 7:00 and be clear right through to about 12.30pm tomorrow.
“The final group tomorrow will start at about 7:20 and we should hopefully be finishing around 12.30. At around about that time, the weather is going to start to deteriorate again and the forecast for tomorrow afternoon is rain and thunderstorms so we’re just going to try and get ourselves a nice 54-hole tournament.”
The par-five sixth had to be radically reimagined as a par three in order for play to continue at all. The one group to complete it in that format, Darius van Driel and Angel Ayora, both made pars.
Williams added: “That’s been a problem hole all week and then been very waterlogged and today, shortly before the first game got there, it became obvious that that hole would stop play completely.
“So we managed to make a pretty good par three of about 176 yards and consequently we can finish the tournament.”
Chacarra will resume with a two-stroke lead over Jayden Schaper, with John Parry and Branden Grace sharing third on 12 under.
