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The 37-year-old Spaniard backed up his pace-setting 65 Thursday with a 67 at Emirates Golf Club early Saturday to be -12 for the championship, three shots clear of compatriot Nacho Elvira (68).

A 68 has Open champion Henrik Stenson lurking at -8 in a share of third place alongside South African George Coetzee while American Peter Uihlein and Englishman Chris Paisley are a shot further back. Ryder Cup veteran Ian Poulter is at -6.

In exciting news for the MENA Tour, Dubai-adopted India amateur Rayhan Thomas has survived a topsy-turvy second round to make his first European Tour cut at just his third attempt, some feat for a 17-year-old.

Resuming his second round at even par (-4 for the championship after Thursday’s sparking 68), Thomas teetered with a double bogey on the 5^th and further dropped shots on the 6^th, 10^th and 12^th before getting it back to -3. But the Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club member threw away back-to-back birdies on 16 and 17 with a double bogey seven on the 18^th to eventually sign for a 75. Thankfully he’s still in the red at -1 for the championship, three shots inside the cut line at +1.

Rayhan Thomas has made the cut despite a topsy-turvy second round 75 – Getty Images

The top of the leaderboard is predictably dominated by those who found themselves on the right side of the draw for this bizarrely weather-impacted Desert Swing decider.

Garcia took advantage of the best of Thursday’s conditions and clearly didn’t mind being hooked from the Majlis course just five holes into his second round last night. He returned this morning to rattle off three successive birdies from the 6^th and then cancelled out a bogey on the long par 412^th with further gains on the 13^th and 16^th.

Coetzee had the lead at -9 when play was suspended on Thursday due to high winds and got it to -10 with a birdie on his first hole back, the par 5 18^th. But a bogey on the short par 4 2^nd and a double bogey on his final hole, the water-fringed 9^th, saw the 30-year-old, three-time European Tour winner sign for a second round 70.

Noteables to miss the cut include Qatar Masters champion Jeunghun Wang, out-going and incoming Ryder Cup captains Darren Clarke and Thomas Bjorn and Frenchman Victor Dubuisson (all at +3).

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The wind wasn’t funny from the get go and when Tiger Woods, citing uncontrollable back spasms, withdrew from the $2.65m European Tour event just an hour before his second round tee time, the joke really fell flat.

To cap the craziness off, play was suspended at 2.26pm due to the high winds and, with trees falling, finally called for the day an hour later.

The second round was set to resume at 7.30am Saturday but this might yet prove a scheduling race against time for the organisers as much as a battle of attrition for the players with more wild weather forecast.

South African George Coetzee, three under through eight holes before play was suspended, will return to the 18^th hole in the lead at -9, a shot clear of overnight leader Sergio Garcia who was one under through five holes.

Fellow Spaniard Nacho Elvira (through four holes) was solo third at -6 and American David Lipsky at -5 (through seven).

Only 63 of the 129 players remaining in the field were able to complete their second rounds, among them German Martin Kaymer and Spaniard Rafa Cabrera Bello who carded sensational three-under 69s in the conditions to leapfrog 33 places into a share of fifth place at -4 and serious title contention.

The big news, inevitably, was Tiger’s scratching a day after he slumped to an opening 77, the worst of the his 29 competitive loops of the Majlis course by two strokes.

Sand engulfs the 8th fairway – Getty Images

The initial prognosis is optimistic with Mark Steinberg, the former world No.1’s agent, saying the lower back spasms were not connected to the three surgeries Woods has undergone, the last of them in August 2015.

Steinberg doesn’t expect the problem, which flared late Thursday night, to prevent Woods playing the Genesis Open at Riviera from February 16 but there is now clearly a huge question mark hanging over the 41-year-old’s future.

Kaymer, the co-clubhouse leader with Cabrera Bello, summed up the general feeling afterwards.

“Just sad for the golf tournament and sad for us players to see one of the best players, probably the best player in our era, it’s a shame to see,” the two-time major champion said of Tiger’s Dubai demise.

“On one hand, you want to see him play golf, and on the other hand you don’t want to see him struggling. It’s a tricky one.”

Agent Mark Steinberg fronts the media with news of Tiger Woods back injury – Photo: Clarkwin Cruz

Reigning Open champion Henrik Stenson didn’t seem surprised by Woods withdrawal.

“Well, I think with the start he had, I think he had a lot of work to do to play the rest of the week all the way,” the Swede, in a temporary share of fifth at -4 through five second round holes, said.

“Again, it’s a question of him being healthy. I mean, if he’s going to be out here playing, you’ve got to be 100 percent. Once again, he needs to take care of his injuries obviously.”

For the record, Shinkwin, captured by Getty Images’ Warren Little in the strangely poetic main picture, was +5 with nine holes of his second round to play. The projected cut was +1.

Dubai-adopted Indian amateur Rayhan Thomas, a star on day one with his 68, was even par through three holes of his second round.

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“Yeah, just before that, we saw this one tree go down – you get a warning from the chairman, it’s about to collapse and [it] starts squeaking,” the South African said when asked if the right decision was made to suspend play at 2.26pm.

“I was walking under the trees hearing the squeaking and thinking, this could be me. It’s a little bit dangerous out there with the trees collapsing and stuff. Well, hopefully tomorrow will be better.”

Coetzee, tied second after an opening 66, will return to the 18^th hole Saturday morning at -9 for the championship, a one stroke buffer over Sergio Garcia.

“I’m quite happy with the total I had, playing the back nine — the scoring holes, a couple of holes playing downwind. Quite happy to have taken advantage of it,” the world No. 173 Coetzee said after mixing four birdies with a bogey on 14 after starting his second round from the 10^th tee.

Garcia, one under through five holes in his second round, described the conditions as a “little bit of a lottery.”

“The wind was all over the place and it was blowing really, really hard, very gusty. Obviously with trees coming down and things like that, we managed to hold on well for those first six holes, which wasn’t easy. I think tomorrow will be a little bit calmer and we can get out there.”

Henrik Stenson chips to the 2nd green at Emirates Golf Club – Getty Images

Henrik Stenson, in an eight-way tie for fifth place when play was called, was definitely pleased to find the sanctuary of Emirates Golf Club’s famed clubhouse.

“It was definitely the worst conditions I’ve ever played golf in in Dubai, I know that much,” The Open champion said.

“It was blowing very hard, a lot of dust in the air, trees coming down. We can’t control the weather, unfortunately, and we’ll be back to play some more golf tomorrow.”

Tournament director Mike Stewart said the decision to halt play was made in the interest of player and spectator safety as winds gusting 27mph in the morning steadily built to “gusts approaching 36 and beyond”.

“The last hour of play before we suspended, about 2.25pm. 2.26pm, it was such that we had a lot of things going on on the golf course. We had TV towers that the roofs were blown off. We had balls moving on the greens – [one] blew into a bunker at one stage – five trees came down…it was very unsafe and it was unplayable. “

it was only the second time in the 28 year history of the event that play has been suspended due to a weather event but Stewart is confident of finding a champion through 72 holes.

‘I think we’re still in a good place. The forecast for the last couple of days is pretty good. We don’t have any major issues I think.

“We’ll have winds on the weekend but nothing like days one and two. Hopefully we can most of the third round completed tomorrow [Saturday]. We’ll still have a bit to conclude on Sunday, all going well. Still have a good chance of finishing on time on Sunday afternoon.”

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