Paul Lawrie equalled the Celtic Manor course record of 65 when the 1999 British Open champion finished off his weather-affected Wales Open second round this morning.
A seven-under-par return which took him to 12-under-par 132, earned the Briton an early two-stroke lead over Australian Richard Green, and England's John Bickerton.
However, nearly half the 156 field still had to complete their second round following yesterday’s early finish because of fog, rain and lightning. Lawrie returned to the course to sink a birdie putt on the 12th, the hole where he had lost out in a sudden-death playoff the previous year when bad weather also affected the event.
Paul McGinley won the title after the shootout.
Lawrie said his early morning start had proved something of surprise.
"I thought my putt on the 12th was about six feet, but when we got back to the 12th, it looked more like eight feet.
"But it went right in the middle from a little bit right-to-left, which was just the sort of start I was looking for," he said
"I then stiffed it to a few inches on the 16th with a sand-wedge and got up and down from 30 yards on the (par-five) 18th with a pitch to about four feet, so it was a satisfactory morning's work."
Elsewhere, defending champion McGinley is four-under-par after 10 holes of his second round and leads the Irish challenge. Darren Clarke has slipped back to three-under through 10 holes while Graeme McDowell, Des Smyth and Philip Walton are all on two-under.