MALELANE, South Africa — The Alfred Dunhill Championship is set to be completed on Monday after play was suspended on Sunday because of dangerous weather conditions, with South African major winners Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen sharing the lead on 16-under par in the European tour event.
Players were taken off twice because of a threat of lightning. After the second time at 4:42 p.m. local time (1442 GMT), officials said there would be no more play.
Schwartzel and Oosthuizen were both 1 under for their rounds after playing seven holes at Leopard Creek Country Club. They were three shots ahead of another South African, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (3 under after seven holes). Andy Sullivan and Matti Schmid are two strokes further back on 11 under.
It’s the third straight event to start the season in South Africa after the Joburg Open two weeks ago and the South African Open Championship, also in Johannesburg, last week, both of which were won by home player Dean Burmester, who is 1 under and 15 off the lead.
Seven of the last eight winners of the Alfred Dunhill Championship have been South African players.
There is another tournament in Africa — the Mauritius Open next week — before the tour takes a break until mid-January ahead of events in the Gulf region.