Quayle holds lead as inclement weather suspends play at The Crowns

Anthony Quayle continues to hold the second round lead at 10-under-par before play at The Crowns was suspended due to inclement weather on Friday.

The 27-year-old Australian, who held an overnight two-shot lead after opening with a brilliant 61, parred his first three holes. He looked set to extend his advantage after making a birdie on four before the sirens went off to signal the suspension of play at 1223 local time.

With the inclement weather showing no signs of abating, play for the day was eventually suspended at 1430 after two hours and seven minutes.

A total of 68 players were still on the course when the rain hit the Nagoya Golf Club's Wago Course.

Quayle has readied himself for a long battle tomorrow, adding he is looking to turn the wet conditions to his favour.

"There's plenty of golf to be played," said Quayle. "I don’t really mind if we continued to play or not today. It was pretty difficult in that rain, so it might leave an opportunity for some good scoring in the second round tomorrow."

Unheralded 19-year-old Kota Kaneko, who is making his only seventh JGTO start, took advantage of his early tee time to sign for a three-under-par 67 for a two-day total of 

eight-under-par 132.

South Korea’s Junggon Hwang, a four-time JGTO winner who finished joint runner-up alongside Quayle in the 2018 edition, is eight-under-par through 14 holes.

Daiki Imano, who was lone second overnight, has yet to tee off. He's tied fourth on seven-under.

Meanwhile, reigning JGTO Order of Merit champion Chan Kim of the United States fired a superb 65 to join ISPS HANDA Championship in Japan winner Yuto Katsuragawa (69) in the clubhouse, four shots behind Quayle.

Kim will be delighted to have rediscovered his form after struggling in his last two starts, where he missed the cut at the Kansai Open and could only muster a joint 66th finish last week.

Brad Kennedy of Australia was among those who had their good run halted by the weather suspension. He birdied the first two holes before parring the next two to reach six-under on provisional fifth place with defending champion Hiroshi Iwata and Koumei Oda.