Kennedy in pole position

Australia’s Brad Kennedy holds a three-shot lead at the end of the third day of the severely-disrupted Madeira Island Open.

Kennedy was nine under par after six holes of his third round at Santo da Serra, three ahead of second round leader Jamie Spence, Sweden’s Steven Jeppesen and Denmark’s Knud Storgaard.

Play continued until 7.15pm on Saturday but the knock-on effect of lengthy delays for rain and low cloud on Thursday and Friday meant the third round could not be completed.

It will resume at 9am tomorrow and tournament officials are still hopeful of completing all 72 holes by Sunday evening, aided by the clocks going forward overnight.

If not, a Monday finish remains a possibility, especially with the next tournament taking place in Portugal.

Spence held a one-shot lead after the completion of the second round on Saturday morning but quickly surrendered that advantage in blustery conditions in late afternoon.

The 40-year-old from Kent three-putted the first hole, double-bogeyed the second and dropped another shot at the fourth to drop three shots behind playing partner Kennedy.

Kennedy had opened with four pars in a row but bogeyed the fifth to allow the chasing pack to close the gap.

Jeppesen took full advantage in some style, firing a hole-in-one on the eighth with a nine iron – the third ace of the week – to move into a share of second.

Former Ryder Cup player Paul Broadhurst recovered from a double bogey on the first to share fifth at five under, along with Birmingham’s Sam Walker and American Rob Rashell.

Earlier in the day, Kennedy had bogeyed the final two holes of his second round to surrender the lead to Spence.

Kennedy, who had fired a superb opening 62 and only dropped one shot in 34 holes before his late lapse, said: “I’m a little disappointed with the way I finished but I’m still only one back.

“It doesn’t leave the best taste in the mouth but you have to look at the golf over the first couple of days and I have played some good golf.”