Play cut to 54 holes as winds batter course

By Anil John/Doha

What should have been a good day of golf watched by thousands of spectators was ruined yesterday when strong desert winds forced officials to call of the second round of the $2.5mn Commercialbank Qatar Masters after just 163 minutes of action.Winds topping speeds of 35mph swirled across the Doha Golf Club, knocking down chairs, bending palm trees and moving balls on the greens, a factor that was key to the decision.The tournament now has been reduced to 54 holes and will finish on schedule tomorrow after sponsors and partners insisted it can’t be extended to Monday.“The sponsors and television were insistent that they want the tournament to end tomorrow night so taking that into account and the fact that we don’t have enough daylight to do 36 holes in a day, the event has been reduced to 54 holes,” said Tournament Director David Probyn.“We have taken the decision to suspend for today and restart tomorrow at 8.45am, which will give us the best package for the players and TV. The wind will be strong early tomorrow but we are expecting no more than 20mph maximum which won’t cause us too much a problem.”Play was suspended at 9.13am yesterday but even after five hours the winds refused to ease off and play was finally called off for the day around 2pm leaving the players with a two-round cut after play ends today .Overnight leader Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, who was among the early starters yesterday,  may have breathed a sigh of relief after dropping two shots on his opening seven holes to fall back to joint second place, with American John Daly enjoying a one-stroke advantage even though he didn’t tee off.Among those who excelled yesterday was Ireland’s Damien McGrane who coped admirably with the wind, picking up five birdies in his opening nine holes after starting at six-over par. South African Branden Grace also fared well with four birdies in his six holes before play was suspended. “It’s always windy here – it’s just one of those things,” said World Number 3 Lee Westwood who dropped two shots in six holes to moved to one over par for the tournament. “The wind is part of the course’s defence. Cutting the tournament to 54 holes makes it tougher for me to win but we’ll see what score is leading after tomorrow.” “There was no point on us putting the guys out on a questionable golf course as we would not have been able to catch up,” added Probyn. “The gusts over 35mph prevented us playing today but we hadn’t reached a level where infrastructure was at risk. The balls were moving on the green which is the mandate for us to declare things unplayable – unfortunately we just couldn’t reach a point where we could carry on.”