Angry breakers crashing against the Lancashire coast, signalled the onslaught of horrific weather for the second round of the 127th British Open here yesterday. Conditions became so severe that play was suspended for about 35 minutes at tea-time and all the while, little-known American Brian Watts remained the improbable leader on 137 - three under par.

Explaining the stoppage, the first since Royal Lytham in 1988, Royal and Ancient secretary Sir Michael Bonallack said with typical British pragmatism: "Playing of the game was not sensible in the conditions." It was not quite so easy, however, to make sense of quite remarkable contrasts in scoring.

Playing on either side of the storm, Tiger Woods paid a heavy price for attempting to attack the course. And after visiting the rough more often than a Sunday-morning hacker, he had to sink six-foot birdie putts on the 17th and 18th to escape with a 73.

As it happened, he and playing partner Nick Price were comprehensively outscored by the 18year-old English Walker Cup amateur, Justin Rose, who shot an astonishing 66, the best round of the day. The Zimbabwean, who eagled the 17th, said: "I was trying to tip-toe my way around without making too many mistakes."

The pun may have been unintentional, but Woods produced an interesting turn of phrase in saying: "With birdies on the last two holes, I came out smelling like a rose." He added: "It was one of those days when you just had to keep patient and hang in there. Starting out at five under was a blessing."

Meanwhile, he and Price were roundly critical of the murderous, 480-yard sixth. "What a par-four!" exclaimed the Zimbabwean with heavy irony, before Woods observed: "It is unbelievably hard."

Still, weather notwithstanding, the cut of 146 was two strokes lower than the last staging here in 1991. Among the more notable casualties were the 1995 champion John Daly, who had a crippling 10 at the 18th, and the 1996 winner Tom Lehman, who was clearly affected by injury.

Tom Watson, the 1983 winner here, missed the cut for the first time since 1993 and Colin Montgomerie also departed the scene, though the big Scot put in a stirring eagle, birdie finish to a round of 74 to miss by one.

As with most things about him, Daly's 10 was particularly interesting. Needing a bogey for survival, he drove into a fairway bunker and then escaped into another trap from where, in the words of playing partner Payne Stewart, he proceeded to take "five swishes at the ball." That was followed by a visit to greenside sand.

Neither the player nor his marker was sure how many strokes he had actually taken by the time he two-putted from 10 feet. But Daly then suggested he had a 10. "That's what Bernhard (Langer, the other member of the three-ball) and I both thought he'd made," said Stewart.

One could imagine teddybears flying in all directions before Montgomerie reached the sanctuary of the locker-room, having failed to break par from the sixth on Thursday until the 17th yesterday, a run of 28 holes. But there was a vastly different performance from Lee Westwood, who overcame a dearth of birdies in a hugely impressive 71 for 142. His only birdie of the round came as late as the long 17th.

Meanwhile, the storm affected some more than others. For instance, Jesper Parnevik was left fuming at his impetuosity in hitting an approach to the ninth after the hooter had gone. When the ill-judged shot finished in heavy rough, the Swede kicked his bag in anger and on resuming play, duly carded a bogey.

But it was especially cruel to the 23-year-old Englishman David Howell, who performed so well in sharing second place at Loch Lomond last Saturday. From an overall position of four under par after six, Howell dropped eight strokes over the next nine holes and was eventually forced to settle for 77 and 145.

By any standards, the weather was remarkable. Thursday's glorious sunshine was replaced by relentless morning rain whipped up by 25 m.p.h. westerly winds. Though the rain stopped before noon, there was no respite for the later starters insofar as the wind actually increased in strength until it was gusting to 60 m.p.h. by late afternoon.

Rose's performance was right out of Chariots of Fire. On his Open debut, he equalled the lowest score by an amateur in the championship, set by the celebrated American Frank Stranahan at Troon in 1950 and matched by Woods in the second round at Royal Lytham two years ago.

"I guess I wasn't worried about the conditions," he said with crushing simplicity. Nor is he going to be rushed into a move to professional ranks. "I haven't made a final decision as yet," he said. "I was going to use this week as a guide and I guess it will help me with my decision."

In the worst of the weather, he carded two birdies and an eagle in the last five holes. That comprised a 3, 3 finish of eagle at the 17th, which he reduced to a drive, seven iron and a 10-foot and a birdie at the 18th where he sank a 20footer.

Watts is something of a controversial figure, arising out of an incident on the Japanese Tour two months ago, when he was found guilty of deliberately engineering a missed cut by hitting two balls into the sea. An initial fine of about $2,000 was considered insufficient, so he was later banned from the Japan Open, to be played in October.

None of which, however, was of the slightest interest to a Canadian journalist sitting behind me in the media centre. In the absence of any real live representative of his country competing here, he has claimed Watts, who was born in Montreal before moving to the US as a six-month-old baby. "In a manner of speaking, I'm going to paint the Maple Leaf on his face," he vowed.

For his part, the 32-year-old son of an English father and German mother is "happy to be playing the Japanese Tour." He was successful in only one out of five attempts at the US Qualifying School and made little of that spell in 1991. Consistent striking yesterday, however, was characterised by figures of three under for the last 12 holes.

When the leaderboard eventually acquired a meaningful shape at the end of the day, it was especially interesting to note the presence of Thomas Bjorn on one under. In the three-ball behind Philip Walton, he had been struggling to keep pace with the Irishman, who was two under with six holes to play.

If this Open has emphasised anything, it is the priceless gift that is patience. And it promises to be a trying weekend.