ROSE HALL, St James — American Michael Buttacavoli shot a 21 under par 195, including a course-equalling 10 under par 62, in the third round to win Sunday’s rain-shortened second staging of the BMW Jamaica Classic, a PGA LatinoAmerica tour event at Cinnamon Hills golf course in Rose Hall.

The 21 under par score equalled last year’s four-round total shot by American Jared Wolfe, who played 72 holes, but organisers were forced to cancel the fourth round on Sunday after heavy showers associated with a thunder storm and lightning saw them cut the event to 54 holes.

Buttacavoli had shot a seven under par 65 in the first round, followed it up with a four under 68 in the second round, and was in third place on 15 under par 133 after playing six holes in the third when play was cut short on Saturday, due to lightning.

The bad weather that affected play all four days with significant delays seemed to be following the tour, as it was the first time in Tour history that back-to-back PGA TOUR Latinoamérica tournaments have been reduced to 54 holes. The Molino Cañuelas Championship in Buenos Aires two weeks ago was also a weather-shortened affair.

Despite clear blue skies on Thursday and Friday, there were stoppages for lightning strikes in the vicinity.

It was the third win for the 30-year-old American who has played the most tournaments on the PGA Latinoamerica tour, 81, since he started in 2012, as he took home the first-place prize money of US$31,500 from a US$175,000 purse.

He was one of two players, along with Norway’s Andreas Halvorsen, who equalled the course record 10 under par 62 and finished the third round with three under par on the final two holes — an eagle and birdie on the par fives. And, as it turned out, those three shots were the difference over fellow Americans Tyson Alexander and Harry Higgs, who were tied for second on 18 under par 198.

With the bad weather threatening the event from Saturday when a number of players had to complete their second round, Buttacavoli told reporters on Sunday he decided to play the third round as if it was the final round and go for broke. “I was going to treat the third round like the final round. And if I happened to play a fourth round, I’d have another round to treat like a final round.”

It proved to be the right strategy as after a few players started the fourth round Sunday, the rains came with a fury and the organisers had to abandon the rest of the tournament.

Alexander came back strong over the second and third rounds shooting 16 under par over those 36 holes after he was just two under following the first round.

It was expected that Higgs and Jamaican Open champion Hernan Borja would have battled out over the final round for the title, after they ended play on Saturday at 18 under par scores.

Higgs, however, dropped three shots when play resumed on Sunday, with a double bogey on the par three sixth hole and a bogey on the par four 14th, dropping to one under par on the round before ending with a string of birdies on the last three holes.

After playing bogey free after the first two rounds, Borja had three over the last 15 holes that he played on Sunday, and despite sprinkling in four birdies, fell out of contention.