Humewood’s famous wind took its time arriving for this year’s NMB Championship, but when it did, it arrived with a vengeance.

The start of the third round of this Sunshine Tour and European Challenge Tour co-sanctioned event was delayed for the majority of the day as strong winds buffeted this famous South African links course.

The golfers spent most of the day in the clubhouse, and the first opportunity to start the round came as late as 14:15.

When darkness finally forced another suspension of play at 19:10, the leaderboard had Australia’s Hayden Hopewell, England’s Lee Slattery and Northern Ireland’s Jonathan Caldwell tied for the lead on 15 under par, and still on their front nine.

Frenchman Martin Couvra and Swede Bjorn Akesson ended the day on 14 under par, also still on the front nine.

The third round will resume at 07:00 on Sunday morning.

SCORES: Incomplete

-15 – Hayden Hopewell 63 69 (-3) [9], Lee Slattery 65 67 (-3) [7], Jonathan Caldwell 66 65 (-2) [6]
-14 – Martin Couvra 61 71 (-2) [7], Bjorn Akesson 63 67 (Par) [4]
-13 – Martin Vorster 70 66 (-5) [12], Anthony Michael 64 69 (-2) [9], Keenan Davidse 64 66 (+1) [4]
-12 – Pierre Pineau 65 69 (-2) [10]
-11 – Danie Van Niekerk 64 73 (-4) [14], Jaco Prinsloo 68 64 (+1) [6]
-10 – Dylan Naidoo 69 69 (-4) [17], Euan Walker 67 70 (-3) [14], Romain Wattel 68 68 (-2) [12], Robin Williams 65 70 (-1) [10], Angel Ayora 67 67 (Par) [9]
-9 – Rourke van der Spuy 71 69 67, Stefan Wears-Taylor 65 74 68, Per Langfors 67 72 68, Franklin Manchest 71 67 69, Jake Redman 70 67 (-2) [14], Zan Stirn 69 67 (-1) [12], Jacques Blaauw 68 67 (Par) [11], Trevor Fisher Jnr 67 66 (+2) [9]
-8 – Neil Schietekat 63 76 69, Louis Albertse 68 70 70, Daniel van Tonder 66 72 70, Dan Erickson 68 70 70, Wynand Dingle 68 70 70, Tom Shadbolt 69 66 (+1) [11], JC Ritchie 64 70 (+2) [10], Luca Cianchetti 66 68 (+2) [10]
-7 – Jack McDonald 70 70 69, Jean Hugo 69 70 70, Bradley Bawden 67 71 (-1) [16], Hamish Brown 69 67 (+1) [12], Nicolai Kristensen 69 67 (+1) [12], Nikhil Rama 72 64 (+1) [12]
-6 – Dermot Mcelroy 69 71 70, Gary Stal 71 69 70, Gary Hurley 71 69 70, Luca Filippi 68 69 (+1) [15]
-5 – Mateusz Gradecki 68 71 72, Kyle Barker 67 71 73, Lyle Rowe 70 68 (+1) [16]
-4 – Benjamin Hebert 68 72 72, David Langley 68 70 74, Keelan van Wyk 68 69 (+3) [14]
-3 – Yurav Premlall 64 76 73, Jovan Rebula 68 71 74, Christiaan Basson 68 69 (+4) [14]
-2 – Luke Jerling 68 72 74, JJ Senekal 68 71 75
Par – Tristen Strydom 67 73 76, Pierre Pellegrin 70 69 77, Jeremy Freiburghaus 69 69 (+6) [17]
+1 – Shaun Norris 69 71 77, Rupert Kaminski 70 70 77, Malcolm Mitchell 72 68 77
+3 – Marc Hammer 70 70 79, Jeppe Kristian Andersen 72 67 80

Photo by Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour