McIlroy takes two-stroke lead midway through third round in Malaysia

Rory McIlroy birdied his final hole to take a two-stroke lead Saturday in the weather-hit Maybank Malaysian Open, while Masters champion Charl Schwartzel barely made the cut for the third round.

Overcoming his recent final-round collapse at the Masters, Northern Ireland’s McIlroy moved to 12 under par after nine holes of the third round. Only a dozen players completed their third round after rain and lightning disrupted hours of play at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club for the second straight day.

Schwartzel just made the cut Saturday with a 1-under 71 in the second round to finish at 144. The South African ended the day at 2 under through 11 holes of the third round. Top-ranked Martin Kaymer is at 9 under after 15 holes, moving up from 25th to sharing fifth place with Felipe Aguilar.

McIlroy knows he’s got a challenge ahead on Sunday.

“It’s nice to hole that putt on the ninth and finish on a positive note,” McIlroy said. “I’ve still got the lead but it is going to be a long day tomorrow. Twenty-seven holes in the heat is going to be tough.”

Defending champion Noh Seung-yul of South Korea finished at 145 in the second round, missing the cut by one stroke.

“My swing was horrible and the ball was flying everywhere,” Noh said. “I changed my swing two months ago, and I had an injury to my finger as well.”

Play will resume at 7:40 a.m .local time on Sunday as organizers try to remain on course for a Sunday finish or decide whether to extend the tournament to Monday for the first time. In 2006, the tournament at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club was shortened to 54 holes because of heavy rain.

McIlroy, who has responded positively to his Masters collapse last weekend by contending for the title in Malaysia, had completed nine holes of his third round when bad light ended play for the day after heavy rain forced an earlier delay of three hours and 25 minutes. The single shot he picked up came with a 10-foot putt at the 404-yard par-4 ninth.

"I felt I probably should have been a couple better,” McIlroy said. "I hit a couple of good shots that if they went a foot either way would have been great -- the tee shot on 8 and second shot on 6 -- if they had just stayed. But it's OK. It's a solid start. I could have been two or three shots better off but it's obviously nice to hole that putt right at the end on the ninth and finish on a positive note. I've got myself into a good position going into tomorrow and that's all that counts.''

Noren's card was far more colorful than McIlroy's as he birdied the first, third and seventh but bogeyed the second and the sixth and ran up a double bogey at the par-3 fourth to stand 1 over par through eight holes.

He was in a share for second place at 10 under alongside Gregory Bourdy of France, who fired seven birdies against one bogey to be 6 under for the round through 14 holes, and Italian teenager Matteo Manassero, who was 3 under through nine.

A major threat to McIlroy may yet come from Kaymer. The German followed up two fairly unspectacular opening rounds with six birdies in the 15 holes he played on Saturday.