Cavalry charge as Madeira reduced to 36 holes — Phelan, Maybin, Lawrie and Thornton all have a chance

Finland's Jaakko Makitalo is one of eight players tied for second in Madeira

There's good news and bad news from Madeira. The good news is that Kevin Phelan, Gareth Maybin, Peter Lawrie and even Simon Thornton are in with a chance of winning the weather-cursed Madeira Islands Open – Portugal – BPI.

The bads news is that so does every who made the 18 hole cut in an event reduced progressively from 72 to 54 to 36 holes due to the weather.

The climatic conditions once again played havoc at the mountain-top Clube de Golf do Santo da Serra and when the first round resumed on Saturday morning, only one hour and 13 minutes of play took place before torrential downpours called a halt to proceedings once again.

When play got underway a second time, a trio of Finns in the shape of Antti Ahokas, Roope Kakko and Jaako Makitalo, Scotland’s Peter Whiteford and Alessandro Tadini of Italy joined Frenchmen Jean-Baptiste Gonnet and Adrien Saddier and Englishman Andrew Marshall in second place on three under par as Joachim B Hansen stayed firm at the summit of the leaderboard on four under.

There are 43 players within four shots of the Dane’s lead so it is all to play for on the final day. With heavy rain, wind and possible thunderstorms forecast for Sunday, all 82 players that made the cut will start at 8:00am with a shotgun start.

To say it's wet in Madeira would be an understatement. #MadeiraIslandsOpen https://t.co/zJJzPp7TEM

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) March 21, 2015

While Ruaidhri McGee was cut on the mark after his 75, Phelan and Maybin have the best chance having posted two under 70s to share 10th spot, just two strokes behind pace-setter Hansen.

Lawrie's 71 left him tied for 18th with Thornton in 45th after a one over 73 and still not out of it if he can shoot a low one on Sunday.

Winner of the 2006 Irish Amateur Open when he beat Rory McIlroy in an aggregate play-off at Portmarnock, Ahokas said: “In these conditions you just have to take it one shot at a time. I was talking to my caddie about it, with the way this tournament is going to be now, every shot counts even more than normal... There could be still a long way to go before we finish another 18 holes, looking at the forecast. It’s my first tournament of the year though so I feel fresh and full of energy.”

Scores:

68 J Hansen (Den), 

69 A Ahokas (Fin), A Tadini (Ita), P Whiteford (Sco), R Kakko (Fin), J Gonnet (Fra), A Marshall (Eng), A Saddier (Fra), J Makitalo (Fin),

70 J Lagergren (Swe), B Ritthammer (Ger), G Pinto (Por), J Robinson (Eng), G Maybin (Nir), J Fahrbring (Swe), K Phelan (Irl), R Paratore (Ita), , 

71 T Cruz (Por), J Senior (Eng), N Elvira (Esp), B Stone (RSA), E Saltman (Sco), S Einhaus (Ger), M Armitage (Eng), J Edfors (Swe), J Scrivener (Aus), P Lawrie (Irl), J McLeary (Sco), G Murray,, ,  (Sco), 

72 N Ravano (Ita), D Im (USA), B Åkesson (Swe), M Orrin (Eng), S Wakefield (Eng), G Porteous (Eng), J Billing (Swe), J Stalter (Fra), C Paisley (Eng), D Woltman (USA), M Schneider (Ger), R Santos,, ,  (Por), J Huldahl (Den), C Ford (Eng), C Hanson (Eng), 

73 V Phillips (Eng), P Edberg (Swe), P Figueiredo (Por), S Tiley (Eng), S Chawrasia (Ind), D Gaunt (Eng), R Coles (Eng), E Dubois (Fra), J Walters (RSA), T Murray (Eng), J Doherty (Sco), P Relecom (Bel), D Stewart (Sco), J Guerrier (Fra), D Dixon (Eng), T Pilkadaris (Aus), S Thornton (Irl), A Hartø (Den), S Gros (Fra),

74 C Shinkwin (Eng), H Joannes (Bel), L Jensen (Den), R Gouveia (Por), S Jeppesen (Swe), W Harrold (Eng), C Mivis (Bel), W Booth (Sco), F Andersson Hed (Swe), J Lima (Por), S Heisele (Ger), B Dredge (Wal), T Linard (Fra), F Calmels (Fra), T Sluiter (Ned), C Gloet (Den), P Archer (Eng), A Hortal (Esp), T Bessa (am) (Por), 

CUT

75 M Delpodio (Ita), J Sandelin (Swe), J Dantorp (Swe), P Oriol (Esp), J Carlota (Por), D Huizing (Ned), M Lafeber (Ned), A McArthur (Sco), B Virto Astudillo (Esp), N Quintarelli (Ita), T Elissalde (Fra), L Gagli (Ita), N Bertasio (Ita), A Knappe (Ger), S Manley (Wal), S Brown (Eng), A Velasco (Esp), R McGee (Irl), J Barnes (Eng), S Kim (USA),

76 S Henry (Sco), S Fallon (Eng), H Casey (Eng), J Hahn (USA), J Rask (Swe), C Bouniol (Fra), P Widegren (Swe), J Lara (Esp), N Geyger (Chi),

77 J Heath (Eng), A Forsyth (Sco), D Palm (Swe), S Walker (Eng), F Bergamaschi (Ita), S Soderberg (Swe), C Del Moral (Esp), V Riu,, ,  (Fra), S Griffiths (Eng), P Dwyer (Eng), G Lockerbie (Eng), T Sinnott (Aus), A Gee (Eng), C Pigem (Esp), 

78 R Finch (Eng), R Davies (Wal), D Law (Sco), K Ferrie (Eng), A Bernadet (Fra), M Søgaard (Den), E Cuartero Blanco (Esp), J Ballesteros (Esp), 

79 J Sousa (Por), D Coupland (Eng), B Evans (Eng), C Laranja (am) (Por), 

80 A Rajmont (Cze), E Bertheussen (Nor), J Glennemo (Swe), S Hodgson (Eng), 

82 R Brackenbury (Eng), E Goya (Arg), 

** P Maddy (Eng).