Alexander Levy stormed into the lead on day two of the Portugal Masters with a stunning ten under par 61, but the Frenchman was one of only two groups to complete the second round after thunderstorms and heavy rain severely disrupted play, forcing the tournament to be reduced to 54 holes.

The Frenchman’s sublime haul of ten birdies to follow his first-round 63 left him three shots clear of Nicolas Colsaerts, who was four under through 16 holes and 15 under in total after coming close to carding the first 59 in European Tour history on day one.

The majority of players will now have to complete – and, for half the field, start – their second rounds on Saturday morning, and Levy faces a strange situation where he will now not play until the third and final round on Sunday.

“I will go to the gym, work a little bit and rest in my room tomorrow,” said Levy, who birdied the last from 20 feet in near darkness. “Today was a very long day. I woke up at 6.30 and I’m finishing in the dark. Three times we went from the players’ lounge to the practice range.

“But I managed to play really good golf and I’m very happy with my game. I have been working on my iron shots a lot with my coach the past few weeks. And I think if you can hit it long, you have a big advantage on this golf course.”