Following a tumultuous start to the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia tournament, rain has again suspended play on day three with a backlog of players still to complete the second round.

Many of the Gippsland greens are unplayable, with the significant rainfall flooding key parts of the course.

And with deluges predicted to continue across the weekend, it’s uncertain how the tournament’s format will be played out with the challenging conditions forcing the field away from the course.

Despite the frequent weather interruptions, Tom Power Horan, at 8-under, holds a slender one stroke lead at the halfway mark of the event over Brady Watt.

The Victorian completed an outstanding opening round of 6-under 66 on Friday morning to take a two-stroke lead before moving back to 5-under through nine holes in round two.  

Horan Power’s opening round was particularly impressive in challenging conditions after returning to complete his final 14 holes following an overnight play suspension.  

A birdie on the 5th kick-started a run of six from holes 5 to 18. Power Horan credits his incredible run to steady play in the rainy conditions.

“I just played really solid and tried to avoid the rain and getting wet and that was about it really. I just hit it really nice,” Power Horan said.

“We came back out on the 5^th and I hit a 3-wood from about 230 to 15-feet and two-putted for birdie which was a nice start to the day after the delay.”

Shortly after Power Horan completed his first round, play was suspended for six hours due to heavy rain and flooded greens with three groups still to complete round one.

Players returned to the Yallourn Golf Club layout from 4pm to complete round one with round two resuming at 4:30pm.

Through nine holes of the second round Power Horan holds a one stroke lead at the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia tournament, which tonight has been suspended due to darkness.

The second round will again resume on Saturday morning with more than half the field to complete the round; however, further rain and blustery conditions are expected over the weekend.

“It started raining pretty hard on the last. I knew it was going to get delayed pretty quickly after, so it as nice to hit it close and hole it. It was a good way to finish,” Power Horan said of his opening round.

After completing his first round on Thursday, Brady Watt holds second place with a round of 4-under 68.

Brett Rankin climbed the leaderboard on Friday to sit tied in second place with a one and a half round total of 4-under.

Rankin, winner of the 2019 NT PGA Championship, said keeping his emotions in check and controlling what he was able to, was key to a successful round.

“I just tried to scramble my way around really. I forgot my umbrella this morning so I’m a bit wet and tired but you deal with whatever comes your way and block out all of the distractions, grind it out and stay patient with it,” Rankin said

“I’m very happy with the round and I finished really well so it was a good start to the tournament.”

Marcus Fraser also made the most of the turbulent conditions to sit two shots off the lead at 3-under the card.

The Gippsland Super 6 will recommence round two at approximately 7am on Saturday morning.

For the full Gippsland Super 6 leaderboard visit pga.org.au.