Louis Oosthuizen looks to be heading home

The British Open champion was in the danger of missing the cut with his fate hanging on the fortunes of four players who are yet to finish the course.

ABU DHABI // Louis Oosthuizen, the British Open champion, was in danger of missing the cut at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship yesterday.

Play was halted by darkness with four players still on the National Course.

Oosthuizen's fate will be determined when those golfers finish the second round this morning and the cut-off point is determined.

The cut is the top 70 plus ties. When play was halted yesterday, 71 players were at 144 or better. If that number drops to 69 when the final four players finish their rounds, Oosthuizen and nine others currently at 145 would advance into the final two rounds.

Two of the players still to finish, the Britons Peter Whiteford and Richard Finch, were right at the projected cut of even-par 144.

So if they slip to 145, Oosthuizen and the others are in.

Lee Westwood, the world No 1, will play on, but barely. He survived a five-over-par 41 on the back nine yesterday to stagger home at an even-par 144.

Oosthuizen, the 28-year-old South African, has failed to impress almost from the moment he accepted the Claret Jug after his seven-shot victory at St Andrews in July.

He was one of the golfers still on the course when heavy rain began to fall at 4pm yesterday, and he bogeyed two of his final three holes to slide to 145.

Also apparently done after two rounds are England's Ian Poulter, ranked No 10 in the world, and Italy's Ryder Cup star Edoardo Molinari, No 19 in the world, one slot behind Oosthuizen.

Both are at 145 and will be watching closely as the final six players complete their rounds.

Among those definitely out are the European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal, the 1999 British Open champion Paul Lawrie and Peter Hanson, the Swede ranked No 39 in the world. Khalid Yousuf, the Emirati amateur, also is out after shooting his second consecutive 85.