Nov 23, 2019: Young Thai Phachara Khongwatmai fired three birdies against a bogey in his opening eight holes to extend his lead to three before the penultimate round of the Sabah Masters was halted due to inclement weather on Saturday.
Rashid Khan of India trailing the lead Phachara by three shots and sharing the second place before the round got halted due to distupted weather conditions. Other fellow Indian Udayan Mane tied for tenth place.
Play was first suspended at 1.58pm local time due to lightning threats but torrential downpour never let up at the Sutera Harbour Golf and Country Club, causing officials to abandon play for the day as a resumption looked unlikely after the course received nearly 158mm of rain.
The third round of the US$300,000 event is set to resume at 7.00am on Sunday with the fourth and final round scheduled to start at 8.40am with the same groupings as round three. All 69 players who made the halfway cut have yet to complete the third round.
The weather on Sunday, however, will determine if there will be a Monday finish for the first edition of the Sabah Masters.
A decision will be made for the tournament to spill into Monday if the final group, featuring Phachara, Dongha Lee and Sungho Lee, can manage to complete 13 holes of the final round on Sunday.
Should the final group fail to get in 13 holes on Sunday, the fourth round will be cancelled and the tournament results will be based on the 54-hole scores.
The Sabah Masters, supported by the Tourism Malaysia with an aim to boost tourism in Sabah, is the ninth full-field event on the 2019 Asian Tour schedule.
Asian Tour Release
