SINGAPORE -- Chapchai Nirat of Thailand took a two-stroke lead at the $5 million Barclays Singapore Open on Saturday before play was called because of darkness with roughly half the players still needing to finish the third round.

Nirat had three birdies and an eagle in 12 holes to move to 9 under, two strokes ahead of Simon Dyson of England, Thomas Bjorn of Denmark and Chih Bing Lam of Singapore.

American Phil Mickelson, who lost his No. 2 ranking to Sergio Garcia of Spain last week, shot 4 under through 14 holes, putting him four strokes off the leader.

"I'm happy with the way I played," Mickelson said. "I'll need to make a few birdies tomorrow as there are a lot of good players in front of me."

Ireland's Padraig Harrington, winner of two majors this year, shot a 5-under 66, also leaving him four shots back with Ernie Els, Rory McIlroy and Jeev Milkha Singh.

Lam, seeking to become the first Singaporean to win this big Asian Tour event, said boisterous local fans inspired him.

"The support from the crowd is awesome," Lam said. "It's unbelievable how good the galleries are here this week."

Nirat began the third round on 4 under, two strokes adrift of co-leaders Dyson and Els. He made birdies on the third and fourth, but was still a shot adrift of Dyson and Lam after nine holes at Sentosa Golf Club's Serapong Course.

But the Thai nailed a 10-foot birdie at the 10th to make it a three-way tie for the lead before jumping two shots in front with his eagle on the 11th when he chipped in with a pitching wedge from 118 yards.

Nirat went on to par the 12th when play was halted.

Dyson was 6 under at the start of play and picked up a shot with a birdie on the fourth while parring all of the other 10 holes he played.

"My game feels good. I'm playing all right," said the Englishman, who is feeling the effects of fatigue after playing at the Hassan II Golf Trophy in Morocco last week. "I normally like to attack stuff but I'm holding back a bit as I'm tired.

"I'm right in it, though. Bogey free yesterday and bogey free today, which is a good thing," he added. "I'm playing a bit conservative, but hopefully I'll get a good night's sleep and come out blazing tomorrow."

Lam was tied with Nirat on 4 under at the start of the round and made birdies on the second and fourth before holing his third of the day with a four-footer on the ninth. He was facing a 15-foot putt for par on the 12th when play ended.

"It has been a long day," said the Singaporean, who played 13 holes to complete his second round in the morning. "I hit the ball pretty well all day, but the last holes got pretty hard to play. There was hardly any light and I was surprised they kept us out there for so long.

"All in all it was quite a steady round," he added. "If I can keep it going for another round and a half that would be good."

Bjorn started on 3 under and dropped a shot on the fourth before making birdies at five of his next nine holes.

"I got off to a rocky start but after No. 4 I played some pretty good stuff," said the Dane. "I am just trying to get myself in there with a chance to win. I have not played well for a while and it is nice to get that feeling that I have a chance again."

Although there were no stoppages Saturday, long weather delays on the first two days meant that third round play only began in the afternoon with only 27 of the 72 players who made the cut able to complete their rounds.

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