Golf: McGinley stays on course

Paul McGinley maintained his two-stroke lead before play in the Volvo Masters was halted again by high winds in Jerez this morning.

Winds gusting up to 45mph had halted play yesterday afternoon, with the 20 first-round leaders all still on the Montecastillo course.

Grateful to be called in when they did - shots galore were being dropped at the time conditions were sufficiently improved for them to resume at 9am and complete their second rounds.

But before the start of the third round, officials took another look at conditions and decided to delay matters.

McGinley had resumed on the 13th and parred his first three holes before grabbing a birdie four at the long 16th.

That was offset by a closing bogey five, where he missed a three-foot putt, but a 69 gave the Ryder Cup Dubliner a nine-under halfway total of 135.

McGinley said: ‘‘The 13th was the toughest to start off with. It wasn’t nice getting up at 7.30am, freezing cold and the wind whistling but I was pleased enough to cover the last six in level par.’’

He did, however, miss from three feet on the last and said: ‘‘The greens are unbelievably quick now - the quickest we’ve putted on all year.

‘‘They are unbelievable because of the wind. They’ve been dried out and they have got to be 12 or 13 on the stump.’’

The further hold-up gave McGinley more time to reflect on his position.

‘‘My results this year have given me more confidence,’’ he added.

‘‘It’s just a case of hitting the shots and making a few putts.’’

Victory tomorrow - or Monday if necessary - would take him through the £1m barrier for the year for the first time in his career.

There was a real Irish domination of the leaderboard. Swede Mathias Gronberg, one of the lucky ones to complete his work yesterday before the wind turned really unfriendly, was lying second on seven under - but sharing third spot were Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington, with whom McGinley plays in the World Cup in Japan next week.

Clarke also got through unscathed and was in the clubhouse when the late starters were made to fight just to stay upright, but Harrington came back and parred the last four holes for a 71.

Among the big casualties were first-round leaders Ian Poulter and Australian Peter Lonard.

Poulter, the Luton golfer who opened with a 64, double-bogeyed the last two holes for a round of 81 and plummeted to one over par while Lonard, joint fifth on the final tee, ran up a quadruple bogey eight there for a 78 which sent him crashing to one under.

Lee Westwood had a really adventurous time. Just before the Friday stoppage he had dropped four shots in three holes and on his resumption he went bogey, birdie, double bogey, birdie.

It all added up to a 76, and he was alongside Poulter on one over.

But the worst round of all came from 21-year-old Justin Rose.

The damage had already been done when he returned to the edge of the 18th green. But, taking three to get down for a bogey five meant an 83 and, having been joint eighth after the first round, he had only four of the 66-strong field behind him on eight over.

That became three when Scot Gary Orr, down on 13 over, became one of two injury withdrawals.

Orr had a bad back while England’s Warren Bennett, six over, suffered a recurrence of ankle trouble. He could now miss the World Cup.