McGinley stands tall as fierce winds halt Masters

Less than two hours' play was possible on the third day of the Volvo Masters as high winds continued to buffet Montecastillo in southern Spain. Just enough time was available for the second round to be completed, with Paul McGinley keeping his two-stroke overnight lead over Sweden's Mathias Gronberg.

It is not unknown for the Irish PGA Championship to be played in Spain and maybe this is the latest version because sharing third place, three behind McGinley, were Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington.

It was frustrating and perplexing yesterday as the sun shone out of a blue sky, but the north wind would not relent. Late on Friday, gusts of up to 45mph were recorded. Scoreboards were flying all over the place so the decision to suspend play was inevitable.

The only action seen in the third round yesterday morning was the opening three tee-shots on the first and 10th tees before play was halted again. Tour staff spent the afternoon at the most exposed greens, the fifth, 11th and 15th, and recorded gusts of over 30mph.

"The decision today was on a knife-edge all afternoon," said the tournament director, David Garland. "We were very close to starting a number of times but, within five to 10 minutes, balls were moving too much on the greens.

"With the sun shining and everything looking good and the spectators all here we felt under a lot of pressure to get things started, but we had to be fair to the players. We had to know we could play for some time, not just for 10 minutes at a time."

At a meeting last night, the Tour executive and the sponsors were hoping to resolve whether the event would be cut to 54 holes. Clearly, the season-ending contest, worth £2m, should if possible go the full distance. But considerations such as the travel plans of many players have to be taken into account.

Around half the field of 66 are due to fly off to other continents – most to the World Cup in Japan, a few to the Australian PGA and others still to the UBS Warburg Cup at Kiawah Island. The last is a new venture, in effect a Ryder Cup for the over-40s.

"Monday is always an option but we are also aware that many players have long journeys, and for those going east it is against the clock," Garland said. "We cannot get 36 holes in tomorrow because there is not enough daylight but we could come back to complete the round on Monday. Whatever the decision is, we will try to inform the players before they tee off in the morning whether it is the final round or not."

McGinley resumed at the 13th hole and birdied the 16th before dropping a shot at the last hole. In such conditions, even the two-footer McGinley faced for par at the last was missable, as he proved.

But disaster lurked for others. Ian Poulter, the first-round leader after a 64, took double bogeys at the last two holes as he slumped to an 81. Peter Lonard, his playing partner, took a quadruple-bogey eight at the 18th for a 78.

Harrington parred home to move five strokes ahead of Retief Goosen. The pair are so close at the top of the stroke-average chart that whoever finishes higher here will claim that prize. Clarke, looking to secure second place on the Order of Merit for the third time in four years, was fortunate to finish his second round on Friday, as had Gronberg.

One player who will not be going to Japan is England's Warren Bennett. The former winner of the silver medal as leading amateur at the Open withdrew after two rounds with an ankle injury which he first picked up at the Dunhill Links Championship. Bennett flew home yesterday to see his doctor but decided anyway to pull out of the World Cup. Instead, Poulter's partner will be Paul Casey, the leading candidate for rookie-of-the-year honours after winning the Scottish PGA.

"I've thought about the situation and although the ankle is better than it was three or four weeks ago, it is a long way to Japan and I don't want to take the risk of not being fit," Bennett said. "I think it is important to be fair to Ian and Paul, and it is probably in my long-term interests to rest the ankle. I would not have come here if I had known how much strain this course was going to put on the ankle."