Craig Lee made light of the difficult conditions at the Madeira Islands Open –Portugal – BPI to card a four under par 68 and move into the lead midway through the second day, which suffered a delay due to fog in the morning.
The Scotsman, a Challenge Tour graduate in 2011, was forced to come off the course for an hour and 20 minutes early on his round after fog fell over the stunning mountain-top course at Clube de Golf do Santo da Serra.
But that didn’t faze him as the 34 year old birdied the 11th, his second hole, before gaining two more shots at the 16th and 18th to reach the turn in three under.
His only blemish of the day came at the second hole, his 11th, but he cancelled that out immediately with a birdie at the third before picking up another shot at the seventh to take the clubhouse lead, two shots clear of Frenchman Thomas Levet.
“It was very tricky out there,” he said. “Early doors it was pretty cold and then the fog came down and there was a delay so it was pretty hard to focus and get back into it again, but I managed to do that.
“I managed to get my distance control right with a lot of my wedge shots and that’s key here so that set me up for some pretty regulation birdies so that was nice.
“It’s so difficult with the wind and the cold, it’s all making a difference. It’s tough mentally so I'm delighted with the score.”
Six-time European Tour winner Levet was breathing down Lee’s neck at the top of the leaderboard, after an astonishing back nine which yielded an eagle at the third, his 12th hole, before finishing with four consecutive birdies.
It is the former Ryder Cup player’s first appearance in Madeira since 1999 and the 44 year old was delighted with how he played.
“It was difficult today,” he said. “The wind was blowing and stopping and the rain was on and off so it wasn’t easy to control the ball.
“On the back nine I just played absolutely brilliant golf. I holed a long putt at the third (his 12th) for eagle, from about 10 metres (32 feet), and I missed a short one for birdie at the next.
“Then at the 15th I hit it to two metres for birdie, seven to half a metre for birdie, eight to one metre for birdie and at the last I hit it to inches so the putts were all easy.
“I struggled a bit on the front nine because it was very difficult but my putting was really good so I managed to hang in there and you need to be patient on this course.
“It’s not very long and you’re going to have a lot of short irons but there are tricky lies, uphill slopes and a lot of wind so I'm really happy with the round.
“Every part of my game is OK, my driving isn’t great but it’s pretty straight so that’s a bonus because I can keep the ball in play a lot.
“I came to Madeira because I felt in practice that I was starting to play better and I wasn’t supposed to come here but I thought maybe it would be a good week to show what I can do under pressure. That’s why I came here, to show that my game is in good shape.”
Another former Ryder Cup star, Søren Hansen, was a further shot behind Levet on six under par, alongside Frenchman Christophe Brazillier, after they both carded rounds of 68.
