Staff WriterThe Fitch & Leedes PGA Championship delivered drama on Friday—and not the kind anyone signs up for. By the time lightning cracked over St Francis Links and forced officials to yank everyone off the course, Samuel Simpson was still clinging to the top of the leaderboard. It’s becoming a habit with this young man, and not a bad one.
Simpson had worked his way to 10 under par through 12 holes when play was stopped just after 15:00. The storm rolled in, horns blew, and the round was pushed to a 07:00 restart on Saturday. Hardly ideal, but golf has never promised to care about anyone’s feelings.
He’ll head back out one shot clear of Deon Germishuys, who was also through 12 holes and charging like a man who’s decided the Sunshine Tour owes him something. Joe Long had at least beaten the weather to the clubhouse with a tidy 69, posting eight under par and giving himself a puncher’s chance heading into the weekend.
Simpson’s day, however, was all about discipline—an old-school approach that still wins tournaments even in an era obsessed with bombs and ball speed. Seven straight pars to open the round isn’t glamorous, but it’s the kind of golf that keeps your name glued to the top of the Fitch & Leedes PGA Championship scoreboard. He bled one on the eighth, shrugged, and then stitched together three birdies in four holes like he was fixing a tear in his favourite jacket.
He didn’t pretend it was anything more complicated than good sense.
“Fairways and greens are the top priority around here. It takes a lot of the stress away, so my gameplan is to just make pars. I’m trying to put the ball in the best places possible and manage my misses as best I can. If I can keep hitting the greens in regulation, hopefully I will be OK,” he said.
Germishuys, meanwhile, looks like a man who has no intention of going away quietly. With top-10s in his last three Sunshine Tour starts, his confidence is riding shotgun. Five birdies in his first seven holes on Friday put him right in the thick of it, and another swing at victory feels well within reach once play resumes.
Behind them, the pack isn’t exactly sitting still. Luke Jerling rattled in three straight birdies to get to eight under before the skies opened, while Jacques Blaauw signed for a polished 65 to reach seven under. Zander Lombard’s comeback continues to gather steam too—he reached seven under through nine holes and looks as though he might be ready to make the leaders sweat.
Now it all comes down to Saturday morning, when everyone wakes up earlier than they’d like and picks up a round left dangling by the weather gods. The Fitch & Leedes PGA Championship already has momentum, storylines, and a leaderboard stacked with intent. All it needs now is a stretch of uninterrupted sunshine—though, as every golfer knows, hoping for perfect conditions is a bit like hoping your putter suddenly grows a conscience.
Either way, the fight resumes at dawn. And Simpson, calm as ever, still has the advantage.
