FOR their own, rather special reasons, Spanish golfers dominated matters in the £700,000 Desert Classic here at the wind-swept Emirates club yesterday. And the most dominant of them was the studious figure of Domingo Hospital, who shot a second round of 69 to lead the field by two strokes on 10-under-par.

It was also a notable occasion for compatriot Jose-Maria Olazabal who, in his first tournament in 18 months, could card a wretched eight at one hole and still comfortably make the cut. But the numbers were, too high to offer any hope of survival to Seve Ballesteros, who departed the scene after a humiliating, 84.

The Irish remain there in strength with Raymond Burns and Padraig Harrington among the top seven on the leaderboard. And that elite group also includes the formidable figure of Colin Montgomerie, the defending champion, who is only three strokes off the lead after a second round of 72.

Greg Norman, like Des Smyth, birdied the eighth and ninth, acknowledged as the two most difficult holes on the course. "Yeah, I hit six, beautiful shots - great drives, great three-irons and solid putts," said the Australian, after a fine 68. "My concentration was good and I like the way I'm heading."

Local officials were beaming as a warm, desert wind increased the difficulty of certain par fours to a long-iron or fairway-wood second shot. "This is the first time we've had the sort of conditions here to really test the players," said one of them, with some relish.

It was certainly not a drive-and-wedge exercise, a fact that left Ian Woosnam particularly pleased. "On a calm day here, it all comes down to putting," he said, after a 67 had lifted him into a tie for second place with Bernhard Langer. "A lot of guys don't have the imagination to play the range of shots that are necessary in the wind."

The Welshman proved his point by carding seven birdies, six of them in 10 holes from the fifth to the 14th. In sharp contrast, Montgomerie had only one birdie on his card - at the relatively easy 17th where he hit a sandwedge to 10 feet.

Olazabal started at the 10th, so his disastrous eight came mid-way through his round. Almost invariably, problems at the long 18th have their roots in a wayward drive. So it was that the Spaniard still had the hazard to traverse, after three shots.

In the event, he elected to carry the water onto the green with a seven-iron and, in a manner of speaking, lost the election: the ball came up short and wet. "I'm going to ask the sponsors if I can play only 17 holes tomorrow," he said afterwards with somewhat forced humour.

A measure of Olazabal's overall well-being, however, is that he had got to five-under-par for the tournament before that set-back. Having achieved his initial objective of making the cut, was he now thinking of more ambitious targets? "I'm not thinking about that," he replied. "I'm just looking forward to tomorrow and hoping to score well again."

He wasn't alone in his torment at the 18th. Mark Roe and Mathia Gronberg both carded nine there while Carl Mason and Steven Richardson joined Olazabal on eight: there were several sevens. But Ryder Cup aspirant Thomas Bjorn had no problems there. He was on his way back to Denmark having withdraw from the tournament with a neck injury.

Langer, who plans to play in both the Murphy's Irish Open and the Smurfit European Open this summer, was tied for the lead with Eamonn Darcy on eight-under-par. He then led alone on 10-under before encountering problems on the front nine. But he remains a menacing figure, particularly for the effective manner in which he has adapted, to the long putter.

As Montgomerie observed: "Obviously he had great difficulty in the early to mid-eighties, but since I have been out here on tour, Bernhard has used all sorts of methods and all sorts of contraptions to get the ball in the hole - and they worked. He holes out as well as anybody does."

Hospital's round of 69 had the highlight of an eagle three at the long 13th, where he chipped into the hole from 20 feet. In fact he has seven threes on his card, two of them birdies.

The bespectacled Catalan is a fascinating character. A former student of economics - he got married the day before he was due to take his last exam - Hospital spent 10 years teaching golf to summer tourists in the Swiss resort of Davos, before becoming the tour's oldest rookie at the age of 34.

Now, for the first time, he is leading a tournament at the half-way stage "There are a lot of mental things coming for me in this situation," he said. "You never know the way you are going to react, but if you want to win, you have to go through it."

Which is a problem his illustrious compatriot would be only too delighted to have.