When play was suspended on Saturday at the Haikou Championship on the PGA TOUR Series-China, James Marchesani was leading the tournament at Sunac 3KM Golf Club by three strokes.

When he made a double-bogey on the 16th hole of his third round shortly after the resumption of play on Sunday morning, that lead had disappeared and he began his final round one shot back from China’s Zheng Ouyang.

The Victorian also held a share of the 36-hole lead following a second round that also spilled over into the next day but couldn’t keep pace across the 24 holes he had to play on Sunday, signing for a final round of even-par 72 to finish in outright fifth position, three shots behind the winner, America’s David Kocher.

A birdie at the seventh hole kept Marchesani in the mix but a costly double-bogey at the par-3 eighth saw him make the turn at 1-over for his round.

Birdies at 10 and 13 reignited his hopes of a repeat of his 2017 Clearwater Bay Open triumph until another dropped shot at the par-3 17th left him three shots short of the playoff.

Byrden Macpherson and Max McCardle both logged top-20 finishes at 3 and 2-under respectively for the week with Kevin Yuan a further shot back in a tie for 26th.

Kiwi Ryan Chisnall fired a 4-under par round of 68 on Sunday to move up into a tie for 39th with Sunshine Coast rookie Charlie Dann the only other Australian to make the cut.

Haikou Championship
Sunac 3KM Golf CLub, Haikou, China
5            James Marchesani            69-70-70-72—281
T17        Bryden Macpherson          73-73-70-69—285
T19        Max McCardle                   70-73-72-71—286
T26        Kevin Yuan                         72-72-73-70—287
T39        Ryan Chisnall                     70-77-75-68—290
T42        Charlie Dann                      70-74-74-73—291
MC         Corey Hales                       73-78—151
MC         Luke Toomey                      73-80—153
MC         Aaron Wilkin                       73-80—153
MC         Tim Stewart                        72-81—153
MC         Hayden Webb                     73-81—154
WD        Christopher Wood