A double bogey on the opening hole has seen overnight leader John Senden surrender his two-shot lead in wild conditions on day four of the Emirates Australian Open at The Lakes.
Englishman Justin Rose, playing alongside Senden in the final pairing, parred the first hole to join the Queenslander in the lead at five under.
Officials were forced to halt play for three hours after some greens became unplayable and a television tower was blown over at the 18th hole shortly before midday.
The leaders finally began their fourth round in 40kmh winds at 3.27pm local time, with Senden spraying his opening tee shot into the sand dunes.
Despite the delay, officials are still confident of a Sunday finish, however a thunderstorm that is expected to hit Sydney could yet force the field to return on Monday morning.
Peter Senior is a further shot back in outright third through two holes, one shot clear of Cameron Percy, Stuart Appleby and Kieran Pratt.
Kim Felton and Matt Jones are a further shot back, two clear of Adam Scott who made double bogey at the par-4 3rd to drop back to even par overall.
Defending champion Greg Chalmers is also struggling at plus three for the day through eight holes and two over for the championship.
Earlier, American Tom Watson posted a bogey-free three-under 69 before the wind picked up to finish the tournament at plus five.
Coming off a disappointing 78 on moving day, the 63-year-old birdied the opening hole and picked up two more shots at the 10th and 13th before finishing with five straight pars when the southerly buster arrived.