After a lengthy clean-up operation play eventually began at 11:30am with the par five fifth reduced to a 177-yard par three due to the amount of water still on parts of the fairway.

Lee had yet to visit the new hole having started on the back nine and three birdies in an outward half of 33 gave him the outright lead on three under par.

Former amateur champion Graeme Storm was a shot behind on two under having recovered from a bogey on the first with a hat-trick of birdies from the second, alongside Sweden’s Anders Forsbrand and another Englishman Mark Davis.

An ever-expanding group of players were gathered on one under par, including Jose Maria Olazabal who was making a rare appearance on the European Tour.

Olazabal is playing the majority of his golf on the US Tour this season and insisted yesterday he would not be changing his plans to give himself more opportunities to earn enough money to qualify automatically for the Ryder Cup.

That means he will have to perform superbly in the limited events he does play in Europe to avoid having to rely on a wild card from captain Sam Torrance and after missing the cut in Spain two weeks ago, he was at least going about it the right way with a birdie on the 12th.

Compatriot Seve Ballesteros was one over par after two bogeys and one birdie, alongside former Open champion Paul Lawrie, while local favourite Jean Van de Velde was among the afternoon starters who would be unlikely to finish their rounds due to the earlier delay.