Hail stops play in Abu Dhabi

A hailstorm halted play in the Abu Dhabi Championship less than two hours into the £1.8m (€2m) tournament today.

Padraig Harrington, making his first appearance of the year, and Trevor Immelman had time only for four successive pars before they and the rest of the early starters were called off the course.

Joint leaders on two under were defending champion Martin Kaymer, David Howell, Swede Johan Edfors, Soren Kjeldsen and Rafael Cabrera Bello.

Kaymer, partnering Harrington, birdied the 12th and 13th, while Henrik Stenson, the third member of the group, bogeyed the 11th, but returned to level par two holes later.

Most disappointed by his opening was Nick Dougherty. He bogeyed his first three holes.

Sergio Garcia, Harrington’s great rival and just ahead of him at second in the world, was among the later starters, as was Colin Montgomerie.

The storm was fairly brief, but it was so fierce that the greenkeeping staff then had to clear flooded bunkers and fairways.

Over two hours were lost, but on the resumption Edfors made it three birdies in a row at the 469-yard fifth before being joined on three under by compatriot Mikael Lundberg, England’s Robert Dinwiddie, Thai Thongchai Jaidee, Italian Francesco Molinari and Cabrera Bello.

Harrington had to work hard to reel off three more pars, but Stenson ran up a triple-bogey seven on the 16th after discovering that the ball he played from the rough was not his.

Having bogeyed the 14th, the course record holder slumped to four over and joint last, but he did at least hit back straightaway with a birdie.