The Maekyung Open has been reduced to 54 holes after the third round was washed out early on following another rainy day at Namseoul Country Club, located in south-east Seoul.

The third and now final round will re-start on Sunday at 7.50 am local time.

Only a handful of groups teed off on Saturday when play eventually started at 11.30am, before the round was cancelled just 40 minutes later.

Chokchai Boonprasert, Tournament Director, Asian Tour, said: “Because we have had rain since last night, the bunkers and the fairways are full of water, so after discussing the situation with the Korean Golf Association we decided the course is unplayable. We will start round three on Sunday and we will complete the tournament in 54 holes.”

Unheralded Korean Chanmin Jung currently leads the tournament after two rounds. He is 11-under, two ahead of Korea’s Junghwan Lee and four ahead of his compatriots Yubin Jang, an amateur, Taeyang Jung, and Bio Kim – the defending champion.

This is only the second time in its history that the event — first played in 1982 — has been reduced to three rounds. The other occasion was in 1998 when Hong Kong’s Scott Rowe triumphed at Lakeview.

Just six weeks ago Hong Kong’s Taichi Kho, who surprisingly missed the cut this week, won the World City Championship at the Hong Kong Golf Club after the tournament was reduced to 54 holes due to inclement weather.