Joburg Open 2017: Thursday Leaderboard Scores and Highlights

Paul Peterson shot a nine-under 62 on Thursday to hold a two-shot overnight lead the 2017 Joburg Open, but 98 players will need to finish their rounds on Friday morning after play was suspended due to the waterlogged course.

Englishmen Aaron Rai and Paul Waring shot 65s, but as they did so on the par-72 east course—Peterson played on the west course, which is par-71—that was enough to get them a score of seven-under.

Behind them, three players achieved a score of six-under.

Here is the leaderboard at the close of play on Thursday in Johannesburg, South Africa:

Position	Player	Course	Score	To Par
1	Paul Peterson	West	62	-9
T2	Aaron Rai	East	65	-7
T2	Paul Waring	East	65	-7
T4	Romain Langasque	West	65	-6
T4	Sebastian Soderberg	East	66	-6
T4	Jbe Kruger	West	65	-6
T7	Teaghan Gauche	West	66	-5
T7	Francesco Laporta	West	66	-5
T7	Dylan Frittelli	East	67	-5
T7	Dean Burmester	West	66	-5

The full leaderboard can be accessed via the European Tour's official website.

Recap

Peterson teed off in fine fettle as he opened with back-to-back birdies at the first and second, and he ultimately went out in just 31 after picking up further shots at the fifth, sixth and ninth.

A somewhat quieter start to the back nine followed with four pars, but he carded a birdie from eight feet at the 14th, grabbed another birdie on the following hole and was three feet from a hole-in-one at the 16th.

Peterson completed his unblemished round with a ninth birdie.

The American was delighted with effort, per the Tour's official Twitter account:

Behind him, Rai also went round without carding a single bogey, while dropped shots at the 12th and 14th were the only blemishes in an otherwise excellent round for Waring, who like Peterson accrued nine birdies.

Per the Tour's official website, Rai said:

"

It was a very good start. I played very solidly. Also, pretty damp conditions and the course played very long so it was important to hit fairways and greens. I made some putts, also. I drove it well, hit a few greens, made a few putts and also made a couple of up-and-downs when needed, so it was really solid throughout, really.

"

Local favourite Trevor Immelman made a poor start to his round and sits on two over, but his day had just begun to improve before the weather called proceedings to a halt:

He'll still have his final four holes to play on Friday morning.

Compatriot Jaco van Zyl fared slightly better at one under, and he'll have five holes to improve on that before the second round.

Both he and the European Tour demonstrated the kind of weather conditions that caused play to be suspended:

There's plenty of first-round golf still to be played, so Peterson, Rai and Waring won't be resting on their laurels just yet.

Play is set to resume at 6:45 a.m. local time, but the condition of the courses could depend heavily on the weather in the meantime.