Three days after sitting at home thinking he was idle for the weekend England's Stuart Little leads the Spanish Open in Madrid by one.

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 yesterday, but in 36 holes today 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 €333.500.

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 Irish 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.

David Higgins, Gary Murphy, Peter Lawrie and amateur Rory McIlroy are also yet to start their second round. Higgins and Murphy are both one-under.  Dubliner Lawrie is four-over par and McIlroy is five-over.

Best of the Irish is Graeme McDowell on four-under-par after five birdies and two bogeys were enough for a 69.

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.

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 suffering from 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.