THERE were mixed fortunes for Gwent's golfers in the Algarve Open de Portugal at Vale do Lobo yesterday.

Strong winds saw play abandoned with defending champion Phillip Price (pictured), from Bassaleg, waiting to see if he would make the cut.

But Blackwood's Bradley Dredge was riding high, second on the leaderboard on two under before play was stopped.

Price, whose victory 12 months ago was his second on the European Tour and second in the event, was one of 66 players unable to finish their opening round on Thursday.

The Welshman had just two holes to play and completed them in level par to card a two over par 74, a creditable effort having battled through the worst of the conditions.

That was eight shots off Swede Carl Pettersson's lead at the time, but only two shots outside the top 10 as only nine players in the 156-strong field broke par in the first round. Pettersson went onto extend his lead to six shots and, after Price started with a birdie on the 10th, his opening hole of the second round, the 35-year-old was firmly in contention to retain the title that was pivotal in his qualification for the European Ryder Cup team in September.

But he then proceeded to drop six shots in six holes on the testing Anniversary course - a composite of the Ocean and Royal courses at the resort - to slump to eight over par. That was two shots outside the current cut prediction, but anything was possible if the high scoring continued, the scoreboard telling many tales of woe with a sea of blue numbers.

Dredge, meanwhile, only managed to play one hole of his second round before play was stopped.

He had shot a two-under par 70 on Thursday to put him in contention on the Portuguese coast.