England's Richard Finch chipped in for an eagle three on the eighth hole as he maintained his challenge on a rain-shortened third day in the Joburg Open. Finch was tied for the lead on 15 under with home golfer Branden Grace when the day's play was suspended as heavy storms hit the East Course of the Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club.
Finch had shared the lead with fellow Englishman Robert Rock and South Africa's George Coetzee at the start of the third round, and kept his victory bid intact as Grace came through to challenge with three birdies just before play was brought to a premature halt.
The round started well for Finch as he claimed an opening-hole birdie, but he was joined by both Rock and Coetzee who also claimed birdies.
All three made par on the second but Rock paid for a short approach shot on the third and dropped a shot, Coetzee making par and Finch seeing his birdie putt lip out.
Coetzee made par on four, but when Finch dropped a shot he joined a group of six, including Rock and Retief Goosen, on 11 under.
Finch just failed with a birdie putt on the par three fifth as both Rock and Coetzee made par.
Coetzee went two ahead on the sixth hole when he kept his nerve to make a birdie after his eagle putt from near the back edge of the green was well short.
Rock held on for a scrappy par, but Finch cut the lead back to one when he rolled in a birdie to go to 12 under, one behind Coetzee.
The round hinged on Finch's chip in from the greenside bunker on the eighth for an eagle three as Coetzee then saw his birdie putt lip out.
That brought Finch level with Coetzee on 13 under and the former then birdied again to go one ahead.
However, Coetzee birdied the 10th to haul himself back level with Finch.
A birdie on 13 took Finch to 15 under and as Coetzee's bid faltered it was Grace who put himself in contention.
Grace hit three birdies in a row from 13 to 15, for five in total in the round, to join Finch on 15 under when the rain got heavier and the organisers took the players off.
Canada's Andrew Parr and Dawie van der Walt had completed their third rounds on 12 under par but van der Walt's fellow South African Jbe Kruger, on the same total, still three holes to complete when a halt was called.
England's Danny Willett had also finished his round for 11 under and he was joined by Michiel Bothma and Rock who had completed 16 and 14 holes respectively.
Goosen was among a group of six players on 10 under.
Latest third round scores & totals (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):
203Dawie Van Der Walt (Rsa) 70 66 67, Andrew Parr (Can) 70 69 64
204Danny Willett 69 67 68
205Marc Warren 66 69 70, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 70 67 68, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 67 69 69, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 70 66 69, Scott Jamieson 68 67 70, Trevor Fisher Jnr (Rsa) 68 68 69
206Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 68 68 70, David Drysdale 65 72 69, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 70 66 70, Warren Abery (Rsa) 66 72 68, Reinier Saxton (Ned) 64 73 69
207Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa) 68 68 71, Matthew Nixon 70 67 70, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 68 67 72, Julien Quesne (Fra) 65 72 70
208Craig Lee 64 74 70, Jamie Elson 63 75 70, Jordi Garcia (Spa) 66 72 70, Adam Gee 69 70 69
209Daniel Gaunt (Aus) 69 67 73, Phillip Archer 71 67 71, Jake Roos (Rsa) 69 68 72, Ryan Tipping (Rsa) 68 69 72, Theunis Spangenberg (Rsa) 69 68 72
210Brandon Pieters (Rsa) 66 71 73, Divan Van Den Heever (Rsa) 67 70 73, Andrew Marshall 70 69 71, Brandon Stone (Rsa) 72 65 73, Chris Swanepoel (Rsa) 68 69 73
211Anthony Wall 73 65 73, Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 72 66 73
212Peter Karmis (Rsa) 64 73 75, Justin Walters (Rsa) 69 70 73
213Scott Pinckney (USA) 64 72 77
214Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 65 72 77, Thomas Norret (Den) 66 71 77
220Merwe Bennie Van Der (Rsa) 67 72 81
