Madrid Open:  Three days after sitting at home thinking there was no tournament for him this week England's Stuart Little led the Spanish Open in Madrid.

The 39-year-old left-hander flew out on Tuesday after being told he was suddenly up from fourth to first reserve - and a place then fell open for him when Londoner Anthony Wall withdrew just before the start.

Little has certainly made the most of his big chance so far. Because of the bad weather he did not hit a shot on Thursday, but in 36 holes yesterday he charged to eight under par.

And that was good enough for a one-stroke overnight lead from compatriots Nick Dougherty and Mark Foster and also South African Charl Schwartzel in the race for a first prize of over €330,330.

After another 100-minute rain delay - almost eight hours were lost on the opening day - most of the 155-strong field had still to reach halfway and Ireland's Ryder Cup pair Paul McGinley and Darren Clarke, two under and three over respectively, were among those who had not even started their second rounds going into the weekend.

Little, without a victory since he made his European Tour debut 15 years ago, lost his card again last season by falling from 65th to 150th on the Order. He then made his 11th trip to the qualifying school, but only the top 35 there win places on the circuit and he finished a lowly 130th.

"This is only my fifth tournament of the year, so to play like this so far is absolutely fantastic - of course it is," said Little, runner-up to John Bickerton in Tenerife two seasons ago.

"I developed a few problems technically and trying to compete with a B-game is pretty much impossible. My game was not good enough and I couldn't find a solution quick enough.

"It's not enjoyable when you are struggling. It was very difficult to erase the problem and I'm still not 100 per cent comfortable, but it's nice to see positives and to have the feelings of 2005 coming back.

"When I suddenly went up to first reserve on Tuesday it was an easy decision to travel. It's not as though Spain is a long haul flight, but I hadn't booked anything so all that had to be done."

On signing for a first-round 67 at lunchtime Little had just a 30-minute break before he was teeing off again. He resumed with back-to-birdies and after turning in 35 picked up further strokes on the first, fourth and fifth.

The sight of dustbins blowing across the course then told him the storm was fast approaching and he had just driven down the 373-yard seventh when the players were called in.

He bogeyed the hole on the resumption, but parred the remaining two for a 69.

Dougherty had had an interesting day. He expected to be playing with Swede Peter Hedblom and Spaniard Jose Manuel Lara, but the former quit before the start because of rib trouble and Lara then withdrew after 10 holes with an ankle problem.

The 24-year-old Liverpudlian continued on his own and took the first round lead with a 66 - "it was good because I slowed everything down, even the way I talked," he commented.

For the second round he was paired with close friend Simon Dyson, but after reaching eight under he ran up bogey sixes on both the 16th and first.

Graeme McDowell was the only Irish player to complete 36. The Rathmore man added a second round 69 for a halfway total of four-under-par 140.

David Higgins, Gary Murphy, Damien McGrane, Peter Lawrie and amateur Rory McIlroy will start their second rounds this morning.

EUROPEAN TOUR OPEN DE ESPANA

(Centro Nacional, Madrid, Spain)

Second round scores (Play suspended, 2nd rd to be finished today, 39 groups still to finish) 136 - S Little 67 69 137 - C Schwartzel (Rsa) 69 68, N Dougherty 66 71, M Foster 68 69 138 - A Raitt 68 70, S Dyson 69 69 140 - T Price (Aus) 70 70, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 71 69, N Fasth (Swe) 68 72 141 - A Noren (Swe) 70 71, B Dredge 69 72, A Romero (Arg) 70 71, M Kaymer (Ger) 71 70 142 - A Coltart 70 72, A Forsyth 68 74, A Salto (Spa) 69 73 143 - G Orr 71 72 144 - D Carter 71 73, R McEvoy 75 69, M Higley 74 70, G Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 70 74 145 - J Parron (Spa) 75 70, D Fichardt (Rsa) 71 74, P Sjoland (Swe) 71 74 146 - S Khan 72 74, R Cabrera Bello (Spa) 75 71 147 - S Walker 73 74, R Gonzalez (Arg) 74 73 148 - A Tadini (Ita) 74 74, K Sullivan 78 70 149 - M Lafeber (Ned) 72 77, R Finch 71 78, P Edberg (Swe) 71 78 150 - J Haeggman (Swe) 75 75, P Sjoland (Swe) 71 73 151 - E Rush 74 77 152 - Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 75 77 155 - A Butterfield 77 78

First round (completed yesterday) Irish in bold, British unless stated. (x) denotes amateurs:

66 - N Dougherty 67 - G Bourdy (Fra), S Little, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 68 - N Begay (USA), L Claverie (Spa), G Storm, A Forsyth, N Fasth (Swe), A Raitt, M Foster, R Bland, F Andersson Hed (Swe) 69 - K Ferrie, G Davies, T Pilkadaris (Aus), C Schwartzel (Rsa), S Dyson, B Dredge, Alvaro Salto (Spa), M Fraser (Aus), D Drysdale 70 - Paul McGinley (Irl), C Rodiles (Spa), MA Jimenez (Spa), D Park, O Fisher, J Lomas, C Balmaseda (Spa), A Coltart, T Price (Aus), G Fernandez-Castano (Spa), A Noren (Swe), A Romero (Arg), O Wilson, J Sandelin (Swe), J Rivero (Spa), MA Martin (Spa), W Ormsby (Aus), (x) I Urquizu (Spa) 71 - David Higgins (Irl), H Nystrom (Swe), T Whitehouse, I Garrido (Spa), J Edfors (Swe), S Gallacher, A Canete (Arg), I Garbutt, F Delamontagne (Fra), Gary Murphy (Irl), (x) G Berlin (Spa), C Del Moral (Spa), P Edberg (Swe), D Carter, R Finch, Graeme McDowell (Irl), G Orr, M Kaymer (Ger), D Fichardt (Rsa), P Sjoland (Swe), G Lockerbie, M Tunnicliff, M Vibe-Hastrup (Den), J Heath 72 - E Canonica (Ita), S Lyle, T Teshima (Jpn), J M Carriles (Spa), Damien McGrane (Irl), D Lynn, S Webster, M Ilonen (Fin), S O'Hara, S Jeppesen (Swe), S Alker (Nzl), M Quiros (Spa), A Domingo (Spa), M Lafeber (Ned), S Khan, A Canizares (Spa), M Pilkington, F Calmels (Fra), S Little 73 - S Wakefield, J Van de Velde (Fra), L Oosthuizen (Rsa), C Cevaer (Fra), P Price, L Westerberg (Swe), M Siem (Ger), A Velasco (Spa), A Quiros (Spa), S Webster, S Walker, (x) J Parry 74 - J Garcia del Moral (Spa), P Lawrie, A Tampion (Aus), E Rush, M Higley, A Tadini (Ita), R Gonzalez (Arg), S Luna (Spa), R Ballesteros (Spa), D Bransdon (Aus), JB Gonnet (Fra), J Skold (Swe), P Linhart (Spa) 75 - F Valera (Spa), J Randhawa (Ind), M Erlandsson (Swe), I Woosnam, Darren Clarke (Irl), P Broadhurst, M Perez Gelma (Spa), G Emerson, R McEvoy, JF Remesy (Fra), J Parron (Spa), R Cabrera Bello (Spa), J Haeggman (Swe), D Vancsik (Arg), F Widmark (Swe), (x) G Vicente Elena (Spa), A Rocha (Bra) 76 - W Bennett, Julien Foret (Fra), Peter Lawrie (Irl), C Monasterio (Arg), P Gustafsson (Swe), P Archer, M Zions (Aus), S Struver (Ger), F Cea (Spa) 77 - (x) Rory McIlroy (Irl), N Colsaerts (Bel), C Suneson (Spa), C Nilsson (Swe), R Rock, JL Adarraga Gomez (Spa), J Bickerton, A Butterfield, L Slattery, S Bebb, Ja Spence 78 - K Sullivan, J Hepworth 79 - I Giner (Spa), JM Arruti (Spa), M Richardson 80 - A Mork (Fra), (x) B Echart (Spa) 81 - R Echenique (Arg), L James Retired: J M Lara (Spa). Withdrew: A Wall, P Hedblom (Swe).

EDS BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIP

(Cottonwood Valley GC Irving, Texas)

Second round: 134 - Brett Wetterich 66 68, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 67 67, 135 - Kent Jones 69 66, 136 - Anthony Kim 70 66, Vijay Singh 69 67, John Senden 67 69, 137 - Charlie Wi 69 68, Nathan Green 67 70, 138 - Michael Allen 69 69, Ben Crane 70 68, Robert Allenby (Aus) 68 70, Ryuji Imada 70 68 Stephen Leaney (Aus) 70 68, Jonathan Byrd 69 69 139 - Daniel Chopra 73 66, Phil Mickelson 69 70, Billy Mayfair 72 67, Ian Poulter (Eng) 70 69, Brendon de Jonge 70 69 Anders Hansen 66 73, Gavin Coles 70 69 .

Brett Wetterich is not prepared to concede his EDS Byron Nelson Championship title without a fight.

At least it certainly looked that way yesterday as he carded a steady two-under-par 68 in the second round at Cottonwood Valley.

Two birdies and 16 pars were enough to give Wetterich a share of the clubhouse lead with Fredrik Jacobson on six under, one stroke ahead of Kent Jones.

"Anytime you don't make a bogey it's a good day," said Wetterich. "There could have been a few more birdies but I also could have made a couple of bogeys. I made two good pars and that kept my round going."

Phil Mickelson, meanwhile, finished poorly for the second successive day, dropping two shots on the back nine to shoot 70 for a one-under total of 139.

"I played okay, but I missed five putts inside six feet, " he said.