SINGAPORE -- Ernie Els of South Africa and England's Simon Dyson shared a two-stroke lead at the $5 million Barclays Singapore Open on Friday, with play delayed for a second day because of rain.

Els, who lost this tournament in a playoff in 2006 before missing the cut last year, was on the course early to complete his first-round 66 and then re-emerged to shoot a 70 in his second round to move to 6 under at the halfway mark.

"I had a nice finish this morning," Els said. "I played pretty decent later but just couldn't get the scoring going.

"I couldn't quite make the side putts and it was kind of difficult getting close to some of these holes. The holes were cut in quite an awkward position but I'm satisfied and I've got a long way to go."

Dyson shot a bogey-free 4-under 67 in the second round for his share of the lead.

"Today I played some of my best golf," Dyson said. "At some of the other courses, I could have been 10 or 12 under. It's such a tough course, you have to read it very well."

Singapore's Chih-Bing Lam, bidding to become the first local player ever to win the prominent Asian Tour event, finished Friday 4 under after five holes when play was halted because of darkness with about half the field yet to complete their second rounds.

Thailand's Chapchai Nirat and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland did complete their second rounds, each shooting a 68 to get to 4 under.

American Phil Mickelson, who lost his world No. 2 ranking to Spain's Sergio Garcia last week, shot a 73 in the first round and was even through seven holes Friday, putting him eight strokes off the leaders but above the projected cut at 4 over.

Ireland's Padraig Harrington, winner of two majors in 2008, had a 72 on Thursday and was even through six holes Friday.

Two-time Singapore winner Adam Scott of Australia struggled with a 5-over 76 in his opening round and completed six holes at even par Friday, but will have to make up ground early Saturday to avoid the cut.

The weather had already wreaked havoc Thursday with a two-hour stoppage forcing half of the players, including Dyson and Els, to return to the Serapong Course at Sentosa Golf Club early Friday.

Dyson had to play 22 holes but took full advantage of benign conditions early on to finish his opening round on 2 under before picking up four shots in a flawless second round.

Dyson holed a 10-foot birdie at the 14th to move to 1 under just before Thursday's stoppage and he made it consecutive birdies upon resumption by sticking a 9-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," he said. "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 5 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'm satisfied with the way I'm playing," he said. "There's still a long way to go and much could happen still."

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