Goosen starts well before rain stops play

Retief Goosen led a five-way tie at the top of the leaderboard when rain halted play at the South African Open today.

The two-time former champion was on two under par (through four holes), alongside Scotland’s David Drysdale (seven), Thorbjorn Olesen from Denmark (eight) and fellow South Africans Divan van den Heever (six) and Martin Maritz (six).

Play at the 100th edition of the competition was suspended at 0853 local time (0653 GMT) after persistent drizzle around the Durban Country Club made parts of the course unplayable.

The adverse weather also meant that just six players had completed nine holes - Norwegian Marius Thorp as well as home pair Willie van der Merwe and Colin Nel amongst them to sit a shot off the leaders.

Also in a group of 12 players on one under were Britons David Howell (through six) and Scott Jamieson (three) along with Open champion Louis Oosthuizen (six).

Defending champion Richie Ramsay was on one over through four holes – the Scot’s solitary bogey coming on the par-four 11th.

Play was expected to resume at 11.30am Irish time.