At 8:10 in the morning, Spanish mainland time, play was suspended in the fourth round of the South African Open. Heavy rain returned over the Durban Country Club and the course is waterlogged. Unplayable. It can’t handle too much water and with what fell at the beginning of the week, the situation was already at the limit. Only three hours of play have been possible. There are 18 matches that haven’t even started or completed the 1st hole. That is, 36 players. As of now, there is uncertainty and a lot of chaos in Durban.
No one knows what’s going to happen. The next tournament announcement will be made at 16:00, local time, three in the afternoon in mainland Spain. This means that until then, more than five hours, it is unknown what decision will be made. There are two options: the fourth round is cancelled and the tournament ends as it is right now, with a playoff between Laurie Canter and Dylan Naidoo to decide the winner, or it is played tomorrow.
The decision is not easy, as there are many things at stake. Beyond the victory, which is obviously important, imagine for the South African Naidoo, it would mean a 180-degree turn in his life, there are three spots for the Open Championship and the closing of the qualification for THE PLAYERS via the world top 50. Laurie Canter is involved in this battle. He needs to finish in the top four, so right now he would be in the most important tournament of the PGA Tour.
It seems right now that the tournament director, or in other words, the DP World Tour and the Sunshine Tour, the South African circuit with which the tournament is co-sanctioned, want to finish the four rounds by all means. The issue is that the weather forecast for Monday is good, the uncertainty is that this is according to the Tour’s weatherman, who hasn’t been particularly accurate lately. In fact, he didn’t foresee today’s rain, which is why nothing was done to bring matches forward, start in threes or from two tees. Nothing. A match order was made as if the weather was excellent for this Sunday.
The chaos comes because a good part of the players already have flights booked to travel this afternoon, either to Johannesburg to play the Joburg Open next week or to return home. Additionally, by extension, they no longer have accommodation in Durban. Delaying the decision until four in the afternoon, with the possibility of cancellation or playing tomorrow, means having to delay all that logistics of changing flights and booking accommodation again for tonight in Durban. In short, a headache.
As things stand, there is no choice but to wait until three in the afternoon, Spanish mainland time, to know what will happen in the South African Open. From what had been played, Jorge Campillo and Manuel Elvira were one under par after five and six holes, and Rafa Cabrera Bello was +4 on the day after eight. The best on the course were Schwartzel and Jean Hugo, with a score of four under par, although without any impact on the fight for victory.
