Circumstances demand that records should be inspected and two years ago, Tiger was caught in the Muirfield ‘storm’ of the Saturday lunchtime and, in his own words because his swing ‘was not working properly’, found his chances of the Grand Slam blown away with something in the 40s going out. He was slightly short of backswing that day and his follow through struggled to get past his shoelaces, so simplifying his swing was possibly too much of a précis, hence why it was not working properly.

Another claimant to being a good bad weather player is Duffy Waldorf, who again was high up on the leaderboard at that Open and was also caught by the high winds and the rain. Duffy also struggled to get through the ball as he saw parts of the glorious Muirfield links usually only the province of the skylarks. Credit though for when the inclement stuff disappeared south and Duffy regained his composure for play the back nine in around level par. Duffy disobeyed his father in his Junior years, when his dad told him not to go out in bad weather so as to ruin his swing. Duffy did so to learn about tough conditions but obviously the strength of the tornadoes that hit Edinburgh each Summer are not typical of a Californian storm.

Who are the true bad weather players actually competing for the Daily Telegraph Dunlop Masters title? To a man they all will tell you, after each round, that these are conditions that they relish. If they failed to do so those who are employing ‘strict’ psychologists would have been receiving a right royal lashing from Madame Whiplash (not actually been spotted yet) for negative thinking.

There are those who have proved themselves, players such as Thomas Bjorn who chased Ernie Els home in the 2004 Amex as southern Ireland was hit with everything the weather gods could throw at its green pastures, and Mount Juliet. Bjorn possess a caress of the golf ball that would have made him a fixture in Paris Hilton’s boudoir had he found another profession than golf.

David Howell was at that same tournament when he picked up his biggest cheque ever for his third place. Another plus mark. Steve Webster beat Tiger Woods in the wind blown Open of 1995, when John Daly won, for the Amateur prize that was supposed to be a challenge match between the wonder of the US and the very big ex-wonder of Scotland, Gordon Sherry.

The other bad weather player of significant note is Darren Clarke. The second hole would push back the challenge of the Ulsterman whose swing is just slightly not as he would want it.

Today at the Marriott Forest of Arden, some of the earlier starters were still making a hash of things. Others were not. Frederick Andersson waited until the 6th to put a par on his card and was three under for those first few holes. There were under par scores for the front nine (only 35s for -1) and Paul McGinley & Ian Poulter both moved themselves up to post 9 am start times for Sunday with a 35 and a 34 respectively on the back nine.

Tom Whitehouse has a record of great bad weather play as an Amateur. He need a 73 on Friday to make the cut but playing at the back of the field unfortunately could not find the birdies he needed and took a 76 to miss by three.

Steve Webster was out in the third from last group with Michael Campbell, a past winner round the Arden course.

Playing mid morning, Paul Broadhurst was under par after 6 and would need to keep making birdies for a chance of a win.

As for the tournament itself, and those who actually did play well in the conditions (with Tiger not playing!), Michael Campbell seized the lead but three shots with four finishing birdies after bogeying the 14th to leave Steve Webster clear in the lead at that point. Campbell’s 67 was the best round of the tournament so far and left him finished at -6.

Four birdies in six holes, from the 7th after a double bogey at the 6th, saw Webster take a clear lead and his dropped shot at the 16th left him in a tie for second with David Howell and Brian Davis who shot 72 and 72 respectively. Webster managed a 70 with six birdies over the day.

Paul Broadhurst, Martin Lafeber and Robert-Jan Derksen , recent winner in Madiera all gave themselves a chance at taking the title by shooting 70 leaving themselves on level par and just six shots back.

.