The predicted winds of around 30km/h made scoring challenging through Thursday morning but as the wind strengthened and it became impossible to bring balls to a stop on a number of the greens of the Gunnamatta Course players were called from the course at 2.02pm.

Round 3 will be completed from 7.10am Friday morning and the groups will remain the same for the fourth and final round to follow from 8am, the final group of Derek Ackerman, DJ Loypur and Blake Windred to tee off at 9.20am.

The forecast is for winds between 20-25km/h on Friday, a far cry from the benign conditions that players took full advantage of in Tuesday’s opening round.

A San Francisco native who has been in Australia since late December, Ackerman shot seven-under 65 in Round 1 and remains the tournament leader with seven holes left to play in his third round.

Paired in the final group with 36-hole leader Windred and Loypur, Ackerman made a disastrous start on Thursday at a hole that had been kind to him the opening two days.

After a birdie and a tap-in eagle in the first two rounds, Ackerman made a double bogey at the par-5 first as Windred and Loypur both made birdie.

He earned one shot back at the par-4 second and after a bogey at the par-4 fourth added further birdies at six, seven and 10 to edge one shot clear at 11-under when play was suspended.

Windred began the day at 11-under and had reached 12-under before he too felt the wrath of the Mornington Peninsula weather.

A double bogey at the par-4 ninth – playing as the second toughest hole this week – was followed by a dropped shot at the 214-metre par-3 11th to end the day nine-under and two off the lead.

Twenty-six-year-old Loypur managed to avoid the disasters that befell many players on Thursday, birdies at one, two and six countered by bogeys at three and nine to get to 10-under for the tournament and outright second.

The suspension of play came one hole too late for ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit leader Jed Morgan.

The Australian PGA champion was three-under on his round when he made the turn to get to 11-under but made bogey at both 10 and 11 and then a double bogey seven at the par-5 13th to fall to a tie for eighth at seven-under.

The recent winner of the Eynesbury Masters, West Australian Braden Becker was also brought undone by the wild weather, dropping four shots across the 13th and 14th holes after being five-under through eight holes of his third round.

Former Gippsland Super 6 champion Tom Power Horan (71) was the only player to complete an under-par round on Thursday, Ackerman, Loypur, Becker, Nathan Barbieri and Michael Choi all one-under with holes to play on Friday morning.

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