McIlroy, rebounding from Masters, shares Day 2 lead in Malaysian Open

Rory McIlroy is rebounding quite nicely after his collapse in the final round of the Masters.

The 21-year-old from Northern Ireland shot an 8-under 64 in the rain-shortened second round of the Maybank Malaysian Open on Friday and shares the lead with Alexander Noren of Sweden at 11-under 133. Nore had a 69 to go with his first-round 64. The event is co-sanctioned by the European Tour and the Asian Tour.

Play at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club was halted for nearly three hours before it resumed. Later, it was suspended because of thunder and lightning.

McIlroy led last week’s Masters for 63 holes before a back nine of 43 crushed his hopes of winning a major tournament.

He said he’s in “great position” heading into the weekend.

“It helps when you have a morning tee time here as you are up pretty early,” McIlroy said of Friday’s round. “I went out and played well, and holed a couple of putts. I’ve been driving the ball pretty good, which you need to around here.”

Simon Dyson of England was one stroke off the lead after shooting a 64, while top-ranked Martin Kaymer of Germany was eight strokes back after a 71.

Noren struggled with the tropical weather.

“I had 14 great holes, but the heat got to me and I was just counting how many holes I had left,” he said.

McIlroy was brilliant for three rounds at Augusta last week before falling away in spectacular fashion as he relinquished a four-shot lead with a first major title in sight, and there had been fears his Masters collapse would have a psychological effect on him in the longer term. McIlroy insisted last Sunday that he would not have a Masters hangover and has gone some way to proving it this week, hitting eight birdies in a bogey-free round.

He started on the 10th tee and rattled off three birdies in his first four holes, before following up with a cool 12-foot putt at the 16th and another 3 at the par-4 17th. Coming home, McIlroy added three more birdies.

Asked whether his round had proved to him he was over his Masters misery, McIlroy said: "It would show more to everyone else other than myself that last week didn't set me back.

"I've started this week off great but I need to keep going and making birdies and shooting low scores if I want to win,” he added. "Eleven under after two days here is a great effort considering I've travelled so far and not seeing the course. I'm happy with how I played."

Englishman Simon Dyson would also have been happy with his round, matching McIlroy's second-round score to move into third at 10 under.

Scotland's Stephen Gallacher shot a 2-under-par 70 to add to his first-day 67, which was good enough for a share of fourth place alongside Australian Brett Rumford at seven under.

One of the players affected by the weather delay was Italian Matteo Manassero, who turns 18 next week. He was second at the end of the first round at 6 under par but could not improve that total through 13 holes of his second round, and will resume at 7:40 a.m. local time on Saturday as the second round spills over into Day 3.

Another player who may ultimately challenge for the halfway lead is Australian Scott Barr, who was 3 under through 10 holes to join Manassero, Spain's Pablo Martin and Danny Lee of New Zealand in a tie for sixth at 6 under, with the latter two in the clubhouse.

New Masters champion Charl Schwartzel was in danger of missing the cut in Malaysia. He was level par for the tournament through 13 holes of his second round, tied 61st alongside fellow South African Louis Oosthuizen, the 2010  British Open champion. Both were one shot above the projected cut mark of 1 over par.