Four share lead as play halted in Ohio

Jun 13, 2015 - 2:03 AM Westlake, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - Last year's runner-up Dawie van der Walt shared the lead with three others when second-round play was suspended due to darkness on Friday at the Rust-Oleum Championship.

Van der Walt followed up his opening-round 62 with a 1-under 70 at Lakewood Country Club and he is tied for the lead with Dustin Bray (66), Shane Bertsch (65) and Peter Malnati (through 16) at 10-under. Van der Walt and Malnati both have wins on the Web.com Tour this year. Bertsch has two career victories, while Bray has none.

Two separate delays totaling four hours and 20 minutes pushed play back on Friday, ultimately leading to the suspension due to darkness. A total of 72 players still need to complete their second rounds. Play will resume at 7 a.m. ET Saturday.

Patton Kizzire (63) and Brian Richey (69) are one shot behind the leaders at 9-under 133, while Tyler Aldridge (64), Taylor Pendrith (66) and Brad Schneider (through nine) are at minus-8.

Starting on the back nine first, van der Walt did not do much at the start as his opening nine consisted of eight pars and a bogey on 16.

The back nine was better for the South African as he rolled in a birdie on one. He traded a bogey on four for a birdie on five and later drained his third birdie on seven. A pair of pars saw van der Walt finish day two tied for the lead.

"That was probably the worst score I could have shot," van der Walt said. "I get days where I make everything and there's days when I can't make anything. It's very frustrating. It's hard to stay patient out there, especially when you miss a bunch of birdie putts and then don't get up-and-down when you chip it to five feet."

Bray had a huge, bogey-free day. His opening nine, also the back nine, featured eight pars and a birdie on 16. He finished up strong as well with four birdies over his final nine at one, three, six and seven.

"Everything's different this week. I'm literally doing the polar opposite of what I've done every week this year," said Bray. "I've been pushing myself way too hard. I think I finally reached my breaking point and hopefully I can hold onto this mentality for a while because I know I've still got some game in me."

Bertsch also played the back nine to start and he too had eight pars to go along with a birdie on 14. Bertsch did one better than Bray on the closing nine with five birdies at Nos. 1, 2, 6, 7 and 9 to complete his bogey-free day.

Malnati traded a bogey on four for a birdie on five and made the turn with seven straight pars from 10.

His run of three straight birdies from 13 pushed Malnati into a share of the lead. He made a par on 16 before play was called for the day.

NOTES: Van der Walt lost to Steven Alker last year on the 11th playoff hole, which is a Web.com Tour record ... Van der Walt's win at this season's 2015 Chile Classic is his lone tour victory ... Malnati won the Brasil Champions this year and also won the 2013 News Sentinel Open ... Bertsch's last win came all the way back at the 2005 BMW Charity Pro-Am at the Cliffs ... Only one group from the afternoon wave finished the second round ... The cut line is currently at 1-under, with the low 65 players and ties making the cut.