Irishman Lester makes his move despite weather at Hyundai Open
[Friday, November 07, 2025 18:25:42]
Rowan Lester. (Photo by Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour)
Rowan Lester. (Photo by Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour)
Haydn Porteous hadn’t even teed off his second round and still held the lead in The Hyundai Open as another wave of weather resulted in a suspension of play at the Ebotse Links on Friday.
After the suspended first round was completed on Friday morning, the second round was also suspended because of weather and will resume at 07:00 on Saturday.
Porteous, who held the overnight lead, was unable to tee off his second round and leads by one shot on eight under par.
But Ireland’s Rowan Lester and South Africa’s Lyle Rowe and Ryan van Velzen managed to close the gap as his nearest challengers on seven under and still on their front nines.
Lester is in his first season on the Sunshine Tour, and is loving life on the fairways in South
Africa
“I’ve been here a few times before with the Irish team. I really like it here and the style of golf suits my game. The food is good and the people are very friendly,” he said.
Lester is also quite pleased with his progress thus far.
“I feel like I have been playing nice all season to be honest. I’ve been just a few shots out of top-10s the last sort of six weeks. It’s just the putting that has been letting me down. This tournament, I had a few good putts and that’s the difference between shooting one or two under par, compared to six or seven under par. It was nice to keep the bogeys off the scorecard.”
Luis Carrera, the current Fortress Rookie of the Year leader, is in a group of players on six under par.
SCORES (INCOMPLETE ROUND)
-8 - Haydn Porteous 64
-7 - Rowan Lester 66 (-1) [6], Lyle Rowe 68 (-3) [6], Ryan Van Velzen 67 (-2) [3]
-6 - Altin van der Merwe 68 (-2) [6], Luis Carrera 68 (-2) [6], Luke Brown 68 (-2) [6], Tristen Strydom 66
-5 - Gregory Mckay 70 (-3) [9], Jonathan Broomhead 67 (Par) [6], Daniel Cronje 66 (+1) [3], Nikhil Rama 67, Warwick Purchase 67, Jacques P de Villiers 67, Ruan Korb 67, Casey Jarvis 67, JC Ritchie 67
-4 - Jordan Burnand 71 (-3) [9], Daniel van Tonder 70 (-2) [6], Pieter Moolman 67 (+1) [3], Pierre Viallaneix 70 (-2) [3], Kieron van Wyk 68, Keenan Davidse 68, Xander Basson 68, Jean Hugo 68, Samuel Simpson 68, Karabo Mokoena 68, David Amm 68
-3 - Malcolm Mitchell 70 (-1) [6], Wynand Dingle 72 (-3) [6], Luca Filippi 70 (-1) [6], Herman Loubser 69 (Par) [6], MJ Viljoen 70 (-1) [3], Anthony Michael 71 (-2) [3], Peter Karmis 69 (Par) [3], Jacquin Hess 69, Keagan Thomas 69, Eric Wowor 69, Hennie Otto 69, Jason Roets 69, Austin Bautista 69, Bryce Easton 69, Therion Nel 69
-2 - Ruan Groenewald 72 (-2) [9], Luke Jerling 72 (-2) [6], Joe Long 73 (-3) [6], Stuart Krog 71 (-1) [6], Christiaan Burke 70 (Par) [3], Trevor Fisher Jnr 70 (Par) [3], Ricky Hendler 69 (+1) [3], Jean-Paul Strydom 70 (Par) [3], Keegan Mclachlan 70 (Par) [3], Brandon Meads 70, James Mack 70, Jacques Blaauw 70, Christian Kriek 70, Ryan van der Klis 70
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