Second round action at WATC hampered by weather

South Africa’s three leading amateurs were hungry to reverse their disappointing start to the World Amateur Team Championships in Turkey and get their title bid back on track with a solid performance on Friday, but inclement weather dealt their hopes a huge blow.

Pelting rain on the Mediterranean coast of south west Turkey caused a six hour delay to the start of the second round at the Antalya Golf Club and an official post by die International Golf Federation in the afternoon handed Brandon Stone, Haydn Porteous and Zander Lombard further bad news.

On Thursday, the United States set the bar at 13-under-par 131, while the South African trio combined for an opening three-over-par 145 at the Sultan Course.

“We were eager to take advantage of the easier course at Cornelia Golf Club to close the gap on the pacesetters at the today,” said South African Golf Association president Andre Pieterse.

“However, the rain has played havoc with the tee-times and only 14 teams were able to tee off. All the teams scheduled to start between 12h05 and12h55 at both courses were told that they will not tee off today. We will tee off on Saturday when play is resumed.

“As golfers, we understand that we are always at the mercy of the weather but it has been very frustrating for the players. They were given revised tee times twice and went through their warm-up routines twice, only to find out that they won’t be able to play at all.

“Let’s hope we can get on the course early on Saturday and get on with the job at hand.”

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