Three days after sitting at home thinking there was no tournament for him this week England's Stuart Little leads 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 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 225,000 Euro.
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 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.
Little today commented: "This is only my fifth tournament of the year, so to play like this so far is absolutely fantastic - of course it is.
‘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% 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,’ the Englishman continued.
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; 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.
