Lauren Walsh sits in fourth place in the rain-delayed Joburg Ladies Open at Modderfontein Golf Club.

A flooded course meant eight groups are still yet to finish 18 holes and will resume at 7am local time on Friday to complete their rounds.

England's Mimi Rhodes was able to complete and continued her dream start in her rookie season to lead on eight under-par.

Walsh is on five under, with Casandra Alexander and Shannon Tan in second and third place on seven and six under respectively.

Walsh, who started the day also on the 10th tee, made par for her first nine holes, but then had a string of birdies on the front to finish the round five under-par.

She said: "It was pretty solid round, bogey-free which is always nice. I hit the ball ok on the front nine and in the end just kept it to pars which kept me going. Then I just stayed patient and knew the chances would come on the back nine. I was able to hit one close on two which kick-started the back nine, then made five birdies which was great."

Just two weeks ago, Rhodes secured her maiden Ladies European Tour title at the Ford Women’s NSW Open in Australia. She is hoping this momentum continues for the rest of the week.

"I’m really happy with how today went", said Rhodes. "I just think that you need to place yourself well on the fairway and then you'll have a really nice shot onto the green. I had a lot of putts inside 10 feet that I happened to hold today, and I still think that I left some out there.

"My putts seemed to be rolling in today really nicely, and I hope they continue to do that for the rest of the week. I'm not going to get ahead of myself and just want to keep having fun out there, she continued."

Sara Byrne shot a 72 to sit on one under after her first round. Annabel Wilson strugged and made a 75.