Thaworn prospers as Macau organisers rush to finish Open

Thailand's Thaworn Wiratchant took a huge step towards winning his 11th title on the Asian Tour by taking a three-shot lead at the rain-delayed Macau Open yesterday.

Thaworn was among 15 players - 67 made the cut - left stranded out on the Macau Golf and Country Club course when the third round was halted due to bad light. But he was in the best position, way out in the front of a struggling pack which made heavy work of the wet conditions.

The 42-year-old Thai needs to play four more holes to complete the third round. Play was suspended twice due to bad weather and more than two hours was lost, leaving organisers praying for good weather today to clear the backlog.

'We hope there won't be any more delays tomorrow,' said a tournament official. 'We cannot extend play to Monday as the club is not available.' Like on all previous days, officials will use a two tee start - from the first and 10th tees.

Yesterday began similarly with the interrupted second round needing to be completed. Rain halted it and after a frustrating delay, Australian Andrew Dodt held a slender one-shot lead - eight-under-par 134 - over Thaworn and Taiwanese Lin Wen-hong at the halfway stage.

The trio were grouped together in the final flight and Lin remained in strong contention, being three shots behind Thaworn. Dodt, however, struggled and two double bogeys and a bogey saw him slip to three-over when play was halted. He is now five shots adrift of pacesetter Thaworn.