Lightning Halts Play as Ford NSW Open Turns Into a Tight Race

Mark Hayes
November 15, 2025

Play in the third round of the Ford New South Wales Open has been suspended because of lightning.

Sirens rang out around The Vintage Golf Club at 2:58 pm with an electric storm moving eastward through the Hunter Valley.

Players – and large galleries – immediately left the course and congregated around the clubhouse.

They have just been told that play will resume at 4:25 PM.

And when it does, the tournament has become a fascinating struggle with the overnight leaders stumbling slightly and leaving a plethora of contenders, all of whom are on the back nine.

Extraordinarily, there are 16 players with three strokes of the lead, with Matias Sanchez having just eagled the 10^th hole to join fellow Victorian Ben Henkel and New South Welshman Lucas Higgins in the lead at five under.

Tournament drawcard Lucas Herbert had worked his way to within a shot of the lead after successive birdies on the 13^th and 14^th holes, but a bogey on the 15^th after an errant drive right dropped him back to three under.

He will resume in the middle of the fairway and a perfect attacking position on the 16^th hole, importantly, with a spring in his step.

Henkel began the day two behind Higgins and Darcy Brereton, but has been the constant at the head of the field as the others have yo-yoed up and down with a poultice of bogeys and double-bogeys that brought the chasing pack back into the mix.

Queenslander Jake McLeod led briefly before his own double-bogey on the eighth hole, while Sydney amateur Blake Phillips has moved nicely into contention at four under.

And another emerging New South Welshman, rookie pro Declan O’Donovan, is poised to join the leading bunch. O’Donovan will resume at three under after a drive that finished pin-high on the par-4 13^th hole, leaving him an outside crack at eagle to join the lead.

The day’s best completed score belongs to Sydney veteran Andrew Evans, who rattled home in 31 on the back nine to shoot a 65 and leap to two under and back into contention.