Winds wipes out round two in Doha

Gusts of 35mph meant less than three hours' play was possible on the second day of the Commercialbank Qatar Masters in Doha - and the second leg of the European Tour's Middle East swing has now been cut to 54 holes.

American John Daly was among those who did not hit a shot, but the 45-year-old ranked 543rd in the world moved into the lead when Spain's Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano bogeyed two of his first five holes before the suspension came just before 9.15am.

Former Open champion Daly, chasing his first victory for eight years, goes into the weekend five under par, while Fernandez-Castano, who won the Singapore Open in November when that event was trimmed to three rounds because of thunderstorms, is a stroke behind along with Korean KJ Choi and Australian Jason Day.

Despite the conditions Ireland's Damien McGrane went to the turn in a five under 31, but he had started with a 78 and so was still only one over.

Of the other Irish involved Peter Lawrie leads the charge on one under despite not starting, while Michael Hoey dropped three shots today and is now two over. Graeme McDowell stayed one over after six holes.

Shane Lowry and Paul McGinley didn't start, while Gareth Maybin picked up a shot after five holes to join them on three under.

Lee Westwood's day began well with a birdie on the 11th, but he double-bogeyed the next and when he ran up a five on the 410-yard 14th he was one over and only joint 48th.

Officials were close to deciding on a 12.15pm restart, but then the gusts went up again and that was too much to keep balls still on the greens.