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Hahn storms into lead at rain-delayed Africa Open

John Hahn completed his back nine in just 28 shots to storm into the lead at the Africa Open © Getty Images

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John Hahn completed a back nine of just 28 shots as he stormed to the top of the leaderboard at a rain-delayed Africa Open, finishing with a second round 61 to move to 16-under.

Starting at the ninth, Hahn made three birdies in his opening ten holes before blitzing his return to the clubhouse with five birdies and an eagle.

An American Qualifying School graduate, Hahn is two shots clear of overnight leader Ricardo Santos, who finished with a second round of 66 to add to his opening 62.

Torrential rain at East London meant a 95-minute delay to proceedings, meaning some second round play was cut short due to bad light. Play is expected to resume at 0715 local time on Saturday.

"I just got the putter hot early and it stayed hot all day. It turned into a good one," Hahn told europeantour.com. "I hit a lot of fairways and greens and the greens I missed early in the round I got up and down. I made a couple of putts you don't normally make and had a couple of unexpected ones go in."

Santos currently sits at 14-under after his two rounds, with Englishman Oliver Fisher a further shot behind after he continued his flawless two days with a 63.

"I was very pleased to score so well today, I really couldn't ask for much more," Santos said. "I got quite lucky with the weather delay, because I was in some thick rough when we were called off, but the break let me breathe some clean air and when I came back out I saved par. There is still a lot of golf to come, but I'm very happy with my position at the moment."

Fisher finished his round with four consecutive birdies and said: "I got off to a good start and then got called in on the fourth fairway. I made two birdies straight after that, so the delay helped me a little bit. I went dry for a while mid-round and then finished with four birdies, so it was a good day."

Fellow Brit David Horsey made a 7-under 64 to move to 12-under for the tournament, while Adam Gee sits alongside Fabrizio Zanotti, Lucas Bjerregaard, Emiliano Grillo and Thomas Aiken at 11-under.

Africa Open Leaderboard

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