Five days after defying gusting winds to claim his 16th PGA Tour victory, Ernie Els buckled in similar conditions to miss the cut in the Tampa Bay Championship at Palm Harbour.

The South African world number three, struggling for rhythm, battled to a two-over-par 73 in Friday's second round to finish seven strokes off the clubhouse lead.

Although 71 golfers were still out on the course when play was halted for the day because of the threat of lightning, Els's four-over total of 146 was well short of the projected cut at one over.

"For some reason last week I could deal with it," the three-times major winner told reporters. "This week I couldn't. Maybe I was a little mentally tired and maybe I needed a little bit of a break."

Els, who won his first title on U.S. soil in nearly four years at last week's Honda Classic, could not explain why his game fell apart after a rain delay in Thursday's opening round.

"We have had many rain delays but, for some reason, when I came back this time I didn't have the same rhythm," said the 38-year-old, who is popularly known as the 'Big Easy'.

"I didn't have a lot of touch on the greens. I had quite a few three-putts. It's not very good.

"It's a very tough, demanding golf and I didn't quite have it. Before the rain delay yesterday I felt really comfortable," he added, referring to the two-and-a-half hour halt on Thursday afternoon because of thunderstorms.

"I was actually striking the ball great. I wasn't missing putts."

Els was heading for a six-over total before he birdied the last two holes in the second round on the challenging Copperhead Course at Innisbrook.

However, the smooth-swinging South African took little comfort from his positive finish.

"I'm going to be missing the cut anyway," he said. "We'll regroup and see what happens."

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