DUBAI // On a day that at times felt less like a game of golf and more one of Last Man Standing, it was appropriate the lowest round was shot by a player called Storm.
Graeme Storm and Scott Hend shot matching 68s in Round 2 at Emirates Golf Club. Not that it resolved much, given that half the field were still out on the course when play was suspended at 2.25pm because of high winds.
As the players marked their balls and headed for the sanctuary of the clubhouse, George Coetzee held the lead in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, on nine-under.
The front-runner was at his ninth hole, when the horn blew to cease play. His three closest pursuers, led by Sergio Garcia, one shot back, were all still playing their opening nine holes, too.
Only 65 players have completed 36 holes, from a field that has now become 129, down by three from the start of Thursday.
__________________________________
Read more
■ Comment: Tiger Woods withdrawal shows comeback will not be simple
■ Thomas v Tiger: Teenage amateur upstages 14-time major champion
■ John McAuley: Five players who could win the Dubai Desert Classic
__________________________________
Tiger Woods and Rikard Karlberg withdrew due to injury and illness respectively, while Mena Tour representative Luke Joy was disqualified after signing for a five at the 16th, rather than four, at the end of his round.
The best-placed players in the clubhouse are the former world No 1 Martin Kaymer and former Classic champion Rafa Cabrera Bello. The fact they had got to four-under was a significant achievement, given they had played in the toughest conditions on the opening day as well.
A number of those who had started late on Day 1 and finish early on Day 2 took to Twitter to vent their disappointment at the decision to suspend play at that stage. Their point was, the morning conditions were not discernibly worse than the afternoon ones.
“Hard to understand the difference between the morning play and now, therefore even more surprised about the decision,” Kaymer wrote, after his second-round 69.
Cabrera Bello retweeted, presumably to endorse, the view of Bernd Wiesberger. “Other than for safety I don’t really understand this decision,” Wiesberger, who is on one-under, wrote.
Safety had become an issue. The galleries had swollen, no doubt in the vain hope of seeing Woods in action, in the afternoon. Just before play ceased, boughs were breaking off trees, and a sizeable one next to the 14th tee was almost entirely uprooted.
That had also been the case in the morning, though, with a tree — mercifully away from any players or spectators, breaking between the neighbouring par-3s, the 11th and 15th.
Mike Stewart, the tournament director, said winds increased from 27mph to more than 36mph between the morning and the afternoon, hence the suspension.
“We had TV towers that the roofs were blown off,” Stewart said. “We had balls moving on the greens. One blew into a bunker at one stage, five trees came down.
“It was very unsafe and it was unplayable. So we brought the players off the golf course, in the interests of play and safety to the spectators, as well.”
Due to the backlog, Round 3 will not start before 12pm on Saturday, with three-ball matches going off from the first and the 10th holes.
pradley@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
