Darkness ends play at Singapore Open

Simon Dyson was tied for the clubhouse lead with Ernie Els when darkness ended play at the weather-interrupted Barclays Singapore Open today with half of the field yet to complete the second round.

Playing in the morning before a lightning storm descended on Sentosa Golf Club, resulting in a three-hour stoppage of play, Dyson fired a four-under-par 67 and Els carded a one-under 70 to reach the halfway mark at six under par, two strokes clear of the rest of the field.

Northern Irish teenager Rory McIlroy birdied his final hole for a 68 to join Thailand’s Chapchai Nirat (68) in a tie for third place on four under with Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn (67) and Australia’s David Gleeson (67) a further stroke back on three under.

Overnight leader Lam Chih Bing of Singapore only managed to play five holes, birdieing the fourth but bogeying the fifth to remain on four under when play came to an end.

Due to the lengthy delay, 78 players will return tomorrow morning to complete their second rounds in the US dollars 5million Asian Tour event.

The weather had already wreaked havoc yesterday with a two-hour stoppage forcing half of the players, including Dyson and Els, to return to the Serapong course early today.

The Englishman had to play 22 holes but took full advantage of benign conditions early on to finish his opening round on two under before picking up four shots in a flawless second round.

Dyson holed a 10-foot birdie at the 14th to move to one under just before yesterday’s stoppage and he made it consecutive birdies upon resumption by sticking a nine iron within three feet at the 15th.

The 30-year-old continued his good form into the second round with birdies at the 13th, 17th, second and eighth.

“It was very solid game today. I hit a lot of fairways, made some good shots on to the greens and hit a lot of good putts. Not all of them went in but some of them did,” said the Yorkshireman.

“Four birdies and 14 pars is quite decent and whenever you play a round and don’t hit a bogey, it’s very satisfying.”

Els held the first-round lead after picking up two birdies in his final three holes this morning to move to five under, and the South African maintained his position with a 70 in his second round.

But after a good start to the day, Els was somewhat disappointed with his second-round effort as he failed to build on his momentum.

“I had a nice finish to my round this morning, making two birdies coming in to shoot five under. And I played pretty decent this afternoon but just couldn’t get scoring,” said the South African.

“I didn’t quite make the same putts and it was kind of difficult being focused at some of the holes with some of the pins being cut in quite awkward positions.

“But I’m satisfied with the way I’m playing. There’s still a long way to go and much could happen still.”

World number five Padraig Harrington remained at one over through six holes while world number three Phil Mickelson was two over through seven.

Korea’s KJ Choi, the world number 16, looked set to miss the projected cut of four over after carding a six-over 77 to finish five over at the end of two rounds.

Two-time Singapore Open champion Adam Scott was on the bubble after finding himself five over through six holes.