JOBURG OPEN:ENGLISHMAN ROBERT Rock beat the weather to take the lead at the Joburg Open yesterday.

The 34-year-old from Staffordshire, chasing a second career win, shot a second-round 67 to hit the front just moments before a thunderstorm forced play to be abandoned for the day.

Rock, who played the West course, is 11 under par for the tournament after posting an eagle and four birdies, his only blemishes being bogies on the eighth and 12th holes.

He signed his card a shot clear of home duo Jbe Kruger and Branden Grace, who both went round the West in 66, adding to their 67s yesterday.

Another South African, Michiel Bothma, is a shot further back on nine under, as is another in George Coetzee. He could prove to be the best-placed, though, with his second round interrupted after just six holes.

Scotland’s Scott Jamieson checked into the clubhouse with a four-under 67 leaving him three shots behind his Anglo rival, while England’s Jamie Elson, one of the leaders after the first round, was unable to start his round at all.

Ireland’s Damien McGrane, who shared that lead with Elson, was one over after three yesterday, dropping down to seven under, the same score as Scotland’s David Drysdale who was one-under for the day at the turn.

Defending champion Charl Schwartzel, four under for the tournament, will have to wait until after all the second rounds have been completed this morning to see if he has made the cut.

Having teed off at the break of day yesterday owing to inclement weather the previous day, Rock was happy to get his second round ticked off and secure himself a later start tomorrow.

“I don’t like those 4.30 alarms, the aim is to play your way out of those,” he told the media afterwards.

“But I guess weather delays are part of the scene this time of the year over here.

“My whole game is good – I drove every fairway, bar one; I hit most if not all of the greens and I hit some irons to tap-in length. It’s been a stress-free couple of rounds, what more could I wish for?”

Kensington GC, Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club, Johannesburg,

(British unless stated, Irish in bold, par 71): Note: Second round play was abandoned for the day, the round will restart at 06:45am this morning , 149 players still to finish the round)

At West Course

132 Robert Rock 65 67

133 Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 67 66, Branden Grace (Rsa) 67 66

134 Michiel Bothma (Rsa) 68 66

135 Scott Jamieson 68 67

136 Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 70 66

138 Anthony Wall 73 65

139 Steven Ferreira (Rsa) 74 65, Keith Horne (Rsa) 72 67, Alastair Forsyth 74 65, Doug McGuigan 69 70, Lee Slattery 72 67

140 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 72 68, Peter Lawrie 72 68

141 Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 71 70, Josh Cunliffe (Rsa) 72 69, Barry Lane 72 69

142 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 68 74

143 Oliver Wilson 72 71, Rich Beem (USA) 70 73, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 75 68, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 72 71

144 Tjaart Van Der Walt (Rsa) 73 71, James Kingston (Rsa) 74 70, David Howell 74 70

146 Chris Wood 71 75

150 Drikus Van der walt (Rsa) 78 72

At East Course

135 Lyle Rowe (Rsa) 66 69

137 Divan Van Den Heever (Rsa) 67 70, Peter Karmis (Rsa) 64 73, Reinier Saxton (Ned) 64 73

138 Jordi Garcia (Spa) 66 72

139 Sam Hutsby 68 71, Sam Little 68 71

140 Merrick Bremner (Rsa) 69 71, Richard Bland 69 71, Andy Sullivan 67 73, Allan Versfeld (Rsa) 68 72

141 Alex Haindl (Rsa) 69 72, Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 69 72

142 Peter Gustafsson (Swe) 70 72, Colin Nel (Rsa) 70 72, Steven O'Hara 69 73

143 Augustin Domingo (Spa) 69 74, Neil Schietekat (Rsa) 71 72, Vaughn Groenewald (Rsa) 68 75

145 John Parry 72 73, Christiaan Basson (Rsa) 71 74, Toto Thimba jnr (Rsa) 70 75, Matthew Southgate 73 72, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 71 74

146 Andrew Johnston 68 78, Bradford Vaughan (Rsa) 71 75

148 Johan Du buisson (Rsa) 71 77, Mark Murless (Rsa) 73 75, Omar Sandys (Rsa) 72 76

151 Louis De Jager (Rsa) 74 77

152 Coenie Stoop (Rsa) 73 79

153 Tyrone Mordt (Rsa) 76 77