Justin Rose made a spirited comeback from a back injury to sail through the cut on the second day of the infamous Algarve Portuguese Open at Vale da Lobo.

Sail was the operative word because the winds that have lashed the Algarve have made this a nightmare tournament so far.

When Rose finished at four over par for the halfway stage, he was in 40th place at least two, maybe three shots inside the cut.

But others, including Lee-on-Solent's Steve Richardson, were quite literally blown away.

And for one Swede, Klas Eriksson the nightmare will live on for some time.

A 13 at the 481-yard par four 14th left Eriksson staggering towards a 19-over first round of 91. The poor chap must have teed off at the 14th yesterday certain that lightening wouldn't strike twice in the same place. But it did and he took a ten but he showed his mettle over the finishing stretch with three straight birdies for a 29-over-par total.

Richardson is a former winner in Portugal and in the worst of yesterday's conditions, the former Ryder Cup ace didn't do at all bad.

When play was suspended on day one with the weather at its worst, Richardson was two over for 12 holes - very respectable. He dropped two more shots early yesterday for a four-over 76 but that still left him in reasonable shape. But after six bogies and a double bogey six at the 405-yard 12th he had slumped all the way down to 122nd place and at 12 over was well out of it.

Rose, who has spent the last three weeks recuperating from a slipped disc in his back couldn't have had a tougher return. He bogied his first hole, bounced back with three straight birdies then blew out big time between the sixth and 12th holes where he dropped eight shots, four of them at one hole, the tricky 12th where Richardson came to grief yesterday.

When play resumed at the crack of dawn yesterday, Rose was tailed off at six over but he clawed back two birdies to finish four over and stayed that way with a well-balanced level par second round of 72 which included two birdies and two bogies.

It was one of the most controlled performances of the day and as many of the later starters came out, including the leader, Sweden's Carl Petterson, there were only nine players under par. Pettersson began his second round at six under and quickly picked up two shots to go eight under - six clear of the field.

Stoneham tournament professional Richard Bland was one of the late starters and had some work to do after a seven over par first round 79.

Most of the damage was done through the front nine but Bland, commendably fought back, picking up three birdies over the back nine and finishing the first day not as far back as he first feared as the wind-lashed field came back to him.