Omega Dubai Desert Classic 2017: Friday Leaderboard Scores and Highlights

George Coetzee topped Friday's leaderboard at the 2017 Omega Dubai Desert Classic as he moved to nine under, but he completed just eight holes, as play had to be suspended because of high winds and will resume on Saturday morning.

Thursday's leader, Sergio Garcia, sits one shot behind the South African having completed just five holes, while Nacho Elvira and David Lipsky are six and five under, respectively.

Martin Kaymer and Rafa Cabrera Bello managed to finish their rounds, and despite the tricky conditions, each shot 69 to take them both to four under.

Here's a look at how the leaderboard stands:

Pos	Player	Hole	Friday	To Par
1	George Coetzee	8	-3	-9
2	Sergio Garcia	5	-1	-8
3	Nacho Elvira	4	-1	-6
4	David Lipsky	7	Par	-5
T5	Martin Kaymer	18	69	-4
T5	Rafa Cabrera Bello	18	69	-4
T5	Felipe Aguilar	8	+2	-4
T5	Graeme McDowell	6	Par	-4
T5	Henrik Stenson	5	Par	-4
T5	Maximilian Kieffer	4	-1	-4

The full leaderboard can be found on the European Tour's official website.

Friday Recap

High winds were forecast for Friday, and that indeed proved accurate, with the conditions worsening as the day wore on before play was eventually suspended as trees on the course were uprooted.

The European Tour shared footage of the weather:

Per the Tour's official website, tournament director Mike Stewart said:

"

We had TV towers that the roofs were blown off. We had balls moving on the greens—blew into a bunker at one stage—five trees came down, it was very unsafe and it was unplayable. So we brought the players off the golf course in the interests of play and safety to the spectators, as well.
                    
Hopefully we can get most of the third round completed tomorrow. We'll still have a bit to conclude on Sunday and, all going well, we'll still have a good chance of finishing on time on Sunday afternoon.

"

On Saturday, Round 2 is scheduled to begin at 7:30 a.m. local time, while Round 3—which "will be a two-tee start in three-balls"—will commence at 12 p.m. at the earliest.

After a strong opening round on Thursday, Coetzee carried his momentum into Friday, and he racked up birdies in three of his first four holes at the 10th, 11th and 13th. His last hole of the day would be the 17th, where he made up for a minor setback at the 14th with his fourth birdie.

It was enough to see him creep ahead of Garcia, who played just five holes. He picked up a shot on the second:

He did the same on the following hole before cancelling it out with a bogey on the fourth. The Spaniard bookended his brief outing with pars, leaving him on one under for the day.

Two-time winner in Dubai Tiger Woods did not take part at all after hitting a five-over 77 on Thursday. His agent explained that the poor round and his withdrawal were due to injury:

There are still plenty of illustrious players competing, though, with Kaymer, Henrik Stenson and Graeme McDowell still in the chasing pack.

With a lot of golf set to be played on Saturday both in completing the second round and beginning the third, there's scope for change on the leaderboard, and the conditions could play a big part—it may well be a busy moving day indeed.