French golfer Alexander Levy shot a second round 61, lit up with ten birdies, on Friday to surge into the lead at the storm-hit Portugal Masters.

After a hefty rain delay which left almost the entire field still to complete their second rounds, organisers at the Oceanico Victoria Clube de Golfe reduced the event to 54 holes.

While the weather failed to break Levy, Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts was unable to repeat his opening day magic.

Thursday’s superb 60 — he missed out on the European Tour’s first 59 when a putt at the last slipped past the hole — was always going to be hard to replicate.

He slipped back from 11 under overnight to four under with three holes to complete on Saturday morning.

Levy began brightly, rattling off three straight birdies, and continued as he had begun, picking up his tenth shot of the round as darkness fell to take the provisional lead on 18 under par.

With the tournament reduced in size Levy will not now play again until Sunday but the 24-year-old is glad for a respite after a difficult day.

“I will go to the gym, work a little bit and rest in my room tomorrow,” he said.

“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.”

Colsaerts resumes his second round three shots back, with England’s Richard Bland and Michael Hoey of Northern Ireland, both still with work to do, a further five shots adrift.

Aside from Levy, only five other contenders completed their second rounds.