Carl Petterson continued to dominate the Algarve Open de Portugal but the inclement weather at Vale do Lobo proved insurmountable as play was suspended for the day at 5.45pm with half the field barely into their second rounds.
Strong winds off the Atlantic Ocean made play on the short holes of the Anniversary Course, the 11th and 16th which lie on the coast, impossible as golf balls were blown about on the putting surfaces and even off the tee-pegs on the tees.
The second round will resume at 8.00am on Saturday morning, weather-permitting, with a game of catch-up planned through the weekend to arrive at the scheduled finishing time on Sunday evening.
Just as in the first round, Pettersson remained calm and assured at the top of the leaderboard and, after having started the day four shots clear of the field, he extended that to six in the first six holes of his second round before the klaxon sounded.
The 24 year old Swede, who lives in North Carolina, birdied the second, fourth and fifth holes to move to nine under par before a pulled tee shot into the trees on the 432 yard sixth hole cost him a bogey five.
Nearest challengers to Pettersson were Scotland’s Alastair Forsyth and Gary Evans of England, both of whom moved to two under par, Forsyth having completed six holes of his second round while Evans only managed one hole, a par four at the 323 yard tenth.
Forsyth, who claimed his maiden European Tour victory last month in the steaming heat of the Carlsberg Malaysian Open showed he could function at the other end of the weather spectrum too, birdieing the first, second and fifth holes before he too, like Pettersson, dropped a shot at the sixth.
The first half of the field did get their second rounds finished, the best moves being made by Spain’s Miguel Angel Martin and Greg Owen of England, who both finished on a one under par total of 143, Martin carding a 70 while Owen posted a 71.
Apart from an unfortunate four-putt double bogey six at the seventh, Owen was steadiness personified, the only deviance from par elsewhere in his round coming via birdies at the fourth, sixth and 16th, where he pitched in from the back of the green.
“I only missed one green all day which was excellent,” he said. “I also hit most of the fairways and I think that is what it is all about round here. If you hit the fairways you can play around here because the greens are tiny with big slopes so you need to get it as close to the flag as you can.
“I’ve just got to work a bit more on my putting. It’s getting better because we’ve worked hard on it since we came out here but hopefully I can get it going and get a few more birdies tomorrow.
“I’ve played well this season but, as I said, I’ve just got to get my putting sorted out. I think if you looked at the stats before this week, I’m round about last so that’s where the problem is because the game is there. I holed a couple today but I missed a few as well although the nice chip in on the 16th helped me out.”
