Sergio Garcia opened up a three-shot lead as the second round of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic was completed on Saturday morning.
Play was suspended on Friday afternoon due to winds of up to 35 miles per hour, with five trees being upended at Emirates Golf Club and balls moving on greens.
That meant the entire second wave of players were left to finish their rounds and when they returned in sunny and much calmer conditions, Garcia added five birdies and a bogey in his remaining 13 holes to sign for a 67 and get to 12 under.
Fellow Spaniard Nacho Elvira was then at nine under, a shot clear of Open champion Henrik Stenson and South African George Coetzee.
Chris Paisley recorded the joint-best effort of the second round with a 66 as he completed 14 holes in the better conditions to sit alongside American Peter Uihlein and Thailand's Prom Meesawat at seven under.
Garcia showed no adverse effects from the delay or the early alarm call and, after starting the day at eight under, flew out of the blocks with birdies on the sixth, seventh and eighth to turn in 31 and hit the front at 11 under.
A bogey on the 12th slowed his momentum but further gains on the 13th and 16th gave him a comfortable cushion as he goes in search of a first European Tour title since the 2014 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
"It was another good round," he said. "Obviously we got a bit lucky with the weather today, I was expecting it to be windier, but you still have to hit good shots. I played nicely again and made some nice putts, so I'm very happy with where I am.
"There's still some things I need to improve on, but it's pretty good so far. I want to do more of the same over these last two rounds.
I played nicely again and made some nice putts, so I'm very happy with where I am - Sergio Garcia
"It's great to see Nacho up there. He's playing very well and it's good to see him doing well – he's a wonderful player and a really nice guy so hopefully we'll have some fun this afternoon.
"Hopefully we'll get close to getting done, or actually finish today."
Elvira began the day at six under but birdies on the 16th, 17th, second and fifth got him into double figures before he recorded a closing bogey.
Coetzee also had trouble on the ninth, recording a double to end his round and drop him four off the lead after he had started the morning one ahead at nine under after eight holes.
A birdie on the 18th quickly moved him to double figures and he remained there stood on the ninth tee before his disappointing finish.
It took Stenson a while to get going, recording one birdie in eight holes but the Swede picked up three shots in his final five to sign for a 68.
Englishman Paisley parred the 14th but then rattled off four birdies in a row and while he dropped a shot on the second, further gains followed on the fourth, seventh and ninth.
Uihlein made five birdies in six holes from the 18th to fly up the leaderboard before he bogeyed the sixth in his 68, while Meesawat made six birdies in his remaining 16 holes after starting bogey-bogey on Friday.
Ian Poulter recovered from a double-bogey on the tenth to finish with five birdies in six holes and sit at six under alongside fellow Englishman Matthew Southgate.
Southgate joined Paisley in signing for a 66 as he followed up his birdie-birdie start on Friday to turn in 30 before making three further birdies and a double-bogey on the back nine.
Magnus A Carlsson, Lasse Jensen, David Lipsky, Maximilian Kieffer and Brandon Stone were then at five under.
