Marc Warren emerged the lightning and rain delays to be sharing second place in the now severely weather affected Andalucia Valderrama Masters in Spain.
Warren had managed to play just eight holes on day one on route to eventually posting a first round two-under par 69 that handed the Scot an official tie for second and just a shot behind England’s Ashley Chesters (68).
Friday dawned with a further two-and-a-half-hour delay to the start of play and this after Thursday’s start to play was delayed by just over four hours.
Warren then managed to squeeze in just nine holes of his second round that included back-to-back birdies at his seventh and eighth holes before dropping a shot for a second day running on the 18th that Warren was playing as his ninth.
No sooner had Warren putted out on Valderrama’s 18th and the approach of further storms again halted play before officials later in the day suspended play ahead of a hopeful restart to the round today (SAT).
He said: “I’m hitting the ball as well as I have in a long time. I gave myself a lot of chances and I’m doing what you’ve got to do around here, which is hitting fairways and greens. I managed to stay patient and got the rewards with being two under for the round this afternoon.
“There was no warming up, you just hit a few a balls and you’re ready to go. I hit two good shots into ten, which was my first hole this afternoon. Holed a nice putt there and I was just short of the green in two on 11, the par five. I didn’t get up and down there, which was frustrating.
“I had a good chance on 13 from about ten feet and missed that, a good chance on 14 from about the same and missed that too. Then I holed a good 12-footer on 16 and another good putt just off the back edge on 17, so I felt like I got it back there.
“Hitting fairways and greens is the most important thing around here, so hopefully I wake up tomorrow with the same swing and swing thoughts as I had today.”
Warren is among just 60 players in the 125-player field to have commenced their second rounds leaving more than half the field, including fellow Scots Richie Ramsay (2-under), David Drysdale (1-over), Conor Syme (2-over), Bradley Neil (2-over) and Duncan Stewart (8-over), still to tee-off.
Bathgate’s Stephen Gallacher was the only other Scot along with Warren to get his second round underway.
And the last Friday stoppage could not have come at a more inopportune time for Gallacher who, after a first round 73, had birdied his 10th and 11th holes to get back to one-under par through 39 holes.
Warren arrived on the Costa del Sol lying 144th on the Race to Dubai and staring at losing full European Tour membership rights in this the final ‘regular’ season event.
