Golf: Qualifiers Chris Lloyd and Morten Madsen stake a claim in South Africa

Denmark’s Morten Orum Madsen and England’s Chris Lloyd both have a chance to win on the European Tour today, less than two weeks after coming through the qualifying school.

After two washed-out days at Royal Durban in South Africa, the inaugural Nelson Mandela Championship was cut to 36 holes and began on a course reduced to a par 65 because of the saturated fairways.

Madsen birdied three of his last five holes for a 60 and shares the lead with local hope Tim Clark, while 20-year-old Lloyd is only one behind, along with another of the home contingent, Lindani Ndwandwe.

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Former Players Championship winner Clark set the target earlier in the day and said: “It wasn’t that easy out there but I was amazed at how good the greens were with all the rain they had.

“I made some good putts and obviously gave myself a lot of chances.

“If it is going to be a two round tournament you’ve got to go low. Normally you can sort of pace yourself but right now you’ve got to be aggressive.

“I was hitting a lot of drivers. I was certainly not trying to play it safe.

“We obviously can’t tell what the future holds, but I do hope we get to play some more golf.”

After the disruption on Thursday and Friday, the objective is to get 36 holes played by Sunday evening but, if there are any more delays and it is possible to finish the second round on Monday, then that will be done.

Clark’s card included three successive birdie twos on the back nine. That was because the 13th and 14th were among four holes made into par threes because of the conditions.

English pair David Horsey and Matthew Southgate were among those who came in with 62s to be in joint fifth place.

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n Spain’s Carlota Ciganda yesterday became the first player since Laura Davies in 1985 to win both the Ladies European Tour money list and the Rookie of the Year title in the same season.

The 22-year-old from Pamplona secured top spot with a tenth-place finish at the Omega Dubai Masters.

China’s world No.6 Shanshan Feng won the event by a runaway five-stroke margin from Dutch player Dewi Claire Schreefel, 
herself four clear of third-placed pair Becky Brewerton and Caroline Masson. Scotland’s Carly Booth finished in a tie for 50th place after two closing rounds of 72 left her one over par.