England's Nick Dougherty remained at the top of the leaderboard at the Maybank Malaysian Open today after opening the tournament with a 10-under-par 62 at the Kota Permai Golf and Country Club.

With none of the players teeing off in the afternoon seriously challenging the such a low score carded by the 25-year-old earlier in the day, Dougherty maintained a two-stroke advantage over Simon Dyson and Australian Marcus Fraser, both of whom carded eight-under 64s in the morning.

Danny Chia of Malaysia and Spain's Carlos Rodiles were the best-placed of the afternoon players at the 6,979-yard Ross Watson-designed layout near Kuala Lumpur.

Chia, a former Kota Permai touring pro, carded six birdies to reach six under with two holes to play, while Rodiles had the same score with three holes remaining after firing seven birdies and a bogey.

Graeme McDowell moved into contention with a fine opening 66 and is the leading Irishman in the field. Peter Lawrie and Darren Clarke both carded 69s, one shot less than Gary Murphy's 70 and two better than Paul McGinley (71) and Damien McGrane (71). Rory McIlroy struggled to an opening three-over 75.

Dougherty set the mark earlier in the day after taking advantage of benign conditions to record his best competitive round as a professional.

Starting on the back nine, he parred his first hole before getting into gear with three consecutive birdies to move to three under.

Dougherty then embarked on a run of seven consecutive birdies from the 16th to the fourth that moved him to 10 under and raised the possibility that he could become the first player to shoot 59 on the main European Tour, albeit playing with preferred lies.

But while he came unstuck on the last five holes of his round, failing to hole a birdie putt the rest of the way, Dougherty certainly had plenty to smile about with his opening 62.

"It was a great start to the tournament. It was my lowest round on Tour and it sets me up well," said Dougherty, whose first Tour win came at the Singapore Masters in 2005.

"I drove the ball really well and putted really well and while my iron play wasn't up to scratch, the good thing was that my misses were all in the right places.

"It was nice to string some birdies together because that's one thing I've been lacking. It's superb to string seven together today and 10 in all and have no bogeys."

Dougherty admitted that he did harbour thoughts of shooting a 59 after moving to 10 under for the day with five holes to play.

"I knew it was on after I made a long birdie on the fourth. Three birdies in the last five is not that tall an order but unfortunately, it didn't happen," he said.

"I felt that my chances on five and six weren't too great but I botched up the par-five seventh. Missing the green with a three-iron into it was poor and although I made a good pitch, I missed the putt for birdie.

"And I hit two great putts on the last two greens and thought that I had made both of them.

"It was there to be done but it didn't happen. Even so, I'm quite pleased with the score I got."

Daniel Vancsik of Argentina was alone in fourth on seven under with New Zealand's Mark Brown, SSP Chowrasia of India, Argentina's Rafael Echenique and defending champion Peter Hedblom of Sweden a further shot back on six under.