It was another bad day for Seve

The Spaniard, who narrowly survived a generous cut after two rounds in the mid 70s, conducted a row with one official in the clubhouse car park and was furious with another who warned him during his terrible second round.

Friday at the Madeira Open

The five-time Major winner was told to speed up play as his group had fallen 36 minutes behind schedule after just nine holes.

He claimed that referee John Grant had said `I don't care,' when Ballesteros tried to explain why his three-ball was taking so long.

Having called a news conference to explain his side of the story, Ballesteros was further enraged when tournament director Jose Maria Zamora doubted his claims.

Instead of trying to help he was only interested in penalising me Ballesteros on the tournament referee

"I had three arguments with the same referee (Grant). On the ninth fairway he said: 'You are a hole behind'," Ballesteros said.

"I said we had to stop twice to drop the ball and he said: 'I don't care, you have to carry on'.

"I think that's a very rude way to answer someone who has played the game for 30 years.

"I am the only star who has won major titles here. It was very important for the Madeira people for me to play well and make the cut but it really broke my concentration. I was upset on the course."

Zamora insisted there could be no special case made for Ballesteros.

"I think Seve is not right. I don't think John Grant would be rude to him, we care about all the players.

"After all the problems of yesterday (three-and-a-half hours play lost due to thunderstorms), we are trying to get four rounds completed and all the players should know they have to co-operate and try to make up time."

Ballesteros, however, was given a surprise fillip on Saturday morning when he was told he had made the cut despite being six over par after two rounds.

Difficult conditions at the mountain-top Santo da Serra course caused the halfway cut to be made at seven over par. The 152 cut is one of the highest on record.

Last year's Algarve Portuguese Open had a cut of nine-over, also because of high winds. The record cut on the European Tour is 12-over at the 1999 Open at Carnoustie.