Golf Volvo Masters Valderrama: In the circumstances, only the use of hyperbolic language could adequately convey the nature of the weather front that descended on Valderrama yesterday, ultimately forcing the abandonment of any play in the scheduled second round of the Volvo Masters.

"Apocalyptic," remarked one tortured soul of the mixture of cold winds and torrential rains that engulfed the piece of golfing paradise created by businessman Jaime Patino's millions.

Yesterday, though, the weather gods proved they could not be bought. And, after the tournament directors had spent much of the day hoping for a break in the weather, the reality that no play would be possible hit home in late afternoon. There followed doom, gloom and no hint of a silver lining in an announcement, which had seemed inevitable from early morning, that all hope had been abandoned.

Despite the loss of a full day's play, the intention is that the tournament will still be decided over 72 holes, with play extending into Monday if required.

And, with the weather forecast reasonably good for the weekend, the plan is to attempt to play as much of two rounds today as is possible. To that end, there will be two-tee starts with players playing in three-balls for the second and third rounds, with no revision of the groupings after the second round in an effort to maximise daylight.

Initially, the problems yesterday were caused by high winds gusting up to 50 m.p.h, which caused play to be suspended. When John Paramor, the European Tour's chief referee, and David Garland, the director of tour operations, ventured out to the 11th green - the most exposed putting surface on the course - they found that balls were moving in winds of only 20 m.p.h on slick greens that were running 12 and a half on the stimpmeter.

Not only that, but also three trees - one by the 16th tee and two on the seventh hole - were blown down by the wind, as were numerous scoreboards and advertising hoardings.

When the winds finally abated to a manageable level, there was to be no respite as heavy rain fell on the course leaving greens and fairways saturated and bunkers filling with water. Between last Saturday and Thursday, seven inches of rain fell on the course; yesterday afternoon, there was a further one and three-quarter inches of rainfall. "The met office told us that the weather forecast was diabolical, and they were right," remarked Garland.

All in all, some nine inches of rain has fallen in this area inside a week, but Garland remained confident the course would be playable for the weekend with placing in operation on the fairways. "This is a remarkable place for drainage. I can't think of another course that would be able to take all of this water."

Sweden's Fredrik Jacobson, who opened with a 64, held a two-shot lead over Denmark's Anders Hansen after Thursday's first round. Of the five Irish players in the field, Peter Lawrie was in closest pursuit, eight shots adrift.

For all the players, yesterday proved to be a frustrating day of sitting in the clubhouse playing cards or reading books . . . with even Padraig Harrington prevented from taking up his place on the saturated driving range.

British unless stated, Irish in bold, par 72)

64 (8 under)

F Jacobson (Swe)

66 (6 under)

A Hansen (Den)

68 (4 under)

C Rodiles (Spa)

70 (2 under)

N O'Hern (Aus), JM Olazabal (Spa)

71 (1 under)

S Gallacher, A Cabrera (Arg), J Bickerton, N Fasth (Swe), B Davis, T Bjorn (Den), C Montgomerie, S Garcia (Spa)

72 (par)

P Lawrie, P Fowler (Aus), B Dredge, A Scott (Aus)

73 (1 over)

D Fichardt (Rsa), GOwen, J Moseley (Aus), MGronberg (Swe), E Romero (Arg), J Rose, D Howell

74 (2 over)

S Hansen (Den), G Murphy, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned), R Karlsson (Swe), K Ferrie, M McNulty (Zim), G Evans, R Jacquelin (Fra), N Faldo, IPoulter

75 (3 over)

B Lane, Sn Kjeldsen (Den), P McGinley, M Campbell (Nzl), P Lawrie, P Price, Miguel Al Jimenez (Spa), L Westwood .

76 (4 over)

P Golding, P Harrington

77 (5 over)

M Lafeber (Ned), P Casey, S Leaney (Aus), D Clarke, T Immelman (Rsa), R Gonzalez (Arg)

78 (6 over)

N Dougherty, P Hedblom (Swe)

79 (7over)

I Garrido (Spa) 81 Donaldson 82 D Lynn, A Coltart, A Forsyth