GOLF:Ireland's Gareth Maybin shot a second successive 69 today to move into the top 10 of the €1.5million Maybank Malaysian Open but is still seven shots behind local favourite Danny Chia who leads on 13-under par at Saujana Golf and Country Club, Kuala Lumpur.

Chia went one better than his opening 66 with a second round 65 which contained no less than two eagles, four birdies and just the one dropped shot at the fifth.

The Malaysian set off from the 10th and picked up four birdies in eight holes before reaching the turn in 32. In a seemingly effortless round Chia missed two short birdie putts at the first and third before the fireworks kicked in.

At the 330yard par-four fourth he drove to within one foot of the hole to set up the easiest of eagles. Although he dropped a shot at the next, a second eagle wasn’t far away for the 36-year-old holed his wedge approach from 90yards for a three at the par-five seventh.

“I played really good today and I am very happy,” said Chia, who shared the lead at the same stage of this tournament last year before dropping away with a third round 78.

“I kept telling myself to be calm out there. My biggest concern is to not get too emotional but I played well on the front nine and told myself to be focused.

“I eagled the fourth and then chipped in at the seventh and my club went sky high. That was nice. It looks like my game plan over the last two days has been pretty good so I hope to stick to it during the weekend.”

Maybin kept himself in contention with another fine round that came to life in as he approached the turn. Starting from the 10th, the 28-year-old notched up four birdies in six holes from the 13th, his fourth, to turn in 32.

A further birdie came at the fourth but this year’s South African Open runner-up signed off on a sour note with bogeys on the final two holes. In a share of 10th on six-under 138, the world number 93 still has a strong platform to challenge over the weekend.

Chia leads by three shots from Sweden’s Alexander Noren, who followed up an opening 63 with a 71 to be 10-under.

Overnight leader Noh Seung-yul lost some ground with today’s 73 but the Korean is still only four off the pace on nine-under.

England’s Nick Dougherty (70) and Simon Griffiths (66), Australia’s Adam Blyth (70) along with China’s Wen-Chong Liang (71) were a shot further back on eight-under.

American Anthony Kim is one of the biggest draws in Kuala Lumpur this week but was in danger of limping out quietly after an opening 78. However today’s 65 left the Ryder Cup star right on the cut which fell at one-under par 143.

Peter Lawrie is the only other Irishman who made the cut. The Dubliner carded five birdies and one bogey at the 12th for a 68 to be four-under at the halfway stage.

Damien McGrane’s 72 for a one-over aggregate left the Meath pro on the wrong side of the cut, while Gary Murphy’s testing times continue as he shot 76 to be way off the pace on nine-over.

Collated second round scores and totals in the European Tour Maybank Malaysian Open, Saujana Golf and Country Club, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

(Gbr and Irl unless stated, Irish in bold, par 72):

131 Danny Chia (Mal) 66 65

134 Alexander Noren (Swe) 63 71

135 Seung-yul Noh (Kor) 62 73

136 Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 65 71, Nick Dougherty 66 70, Simon Griffiths 70 66,
Adam Blyth (Aus) 66 70

137 Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 65 72, Simon Dyson 71 66

138 Scott Barr (Aus) 71 67, Gareth Maybin 69 69, Phillip Archer 69 69

139 Prom Meesawat (Tha) 70 69, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 70 69, David Horsey 71 68,
Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 69 70, Marciano Pucay (Phi) 69 70, Stephen Leaney (Aus)
70 69, Oliver Fisher 69 70, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 72 67

140 Mitchell Brown (Aus) 68 72, Darren Beck (Aus) 71 69, Peter Lawrie 72 68,
David Frost (Rsa) 70 70, Johan Edfors (Swe) 69 71, Anthony Kang (USA) 74 66,
Juvic Pagunsan (Phi) 67 73, Robert Rock 73 67, David Bransdon (Aus) 72 68, Mark
Foster 69 71, Ross McGowan 70 70, Shingo Katayama (Jpn) 69 71, Jyoti Randhawa
(Ind) 71 69

141 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 68 73, Anton Haig (Rsa) 71 70, Martin Erlandsson
(Swe) 73 68, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 70 71, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 73 68,
Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 69 72, Wil Besseling (Ned) 74 67, Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa)
70 71, Richard Finch 70 71, Miles Tunnicliff 71 70

142 Frankie Minoza (Phi) 72 70, Supramaniam Sivachandran (Mal) 72 70, Pelle
Edberg (Swe) 75 67, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 68 74, Simon Khan 70 72, Tony Carolan
(Aus) 70 72, Kodai Ichihara (Jpn) 69 73, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 71 71, James
Kamte (Rsa) 70 72, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 70 72

143 Wei Chih Lu (Tha) 72 71, Neven Basic (Aus) 75 68, Shaaban Hussin (Mal) 71
72, Kyung-Tae Kim (Kor) 72 71, Scott Hend (Aus) 73 70, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 71
72, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 68 75, Sam Little 74 69, David Gleeson (Aus) 72 71,
Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 70 73, Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 73, Rhys Davies 67 76, Shiv
Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 69 74, Chris Rodgers 74 69, Chawalit Plaphol
(Tha) 69 74, Ross Bain 68 75, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 74 69, Jason Knutzon (USA)
70 73, Anthony Kim (USA) 78 65, Angelo Que (Phi) 73 70, Gavin Flint (Aus) 72 71

The following players failed to make the cut

144 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 71 73, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 72 72, Sang-moon
Bae (Kor) 69 75, Keith Horne (Rsa) 72 72, Andrew Coltart 68 76, Thaworn
Wiratchant (Tha) 72 72, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 76 68, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 73 71, Seve
Benson 74 70

145 Richard Bland 72 73, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 74 71, Damien McGrane 73
72, Gaurav Ghei (Ind) 70 75, Phillip Price 73 72, John Bickerton 75 70, Peter
Hedblom (Swe) 71 74, Steven O'Hara 73 72, Wen Teh Lu (Tpe) 71 74, Paul
Broadhurst 72 73, Simon Wakefield 71 74, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 71 74, Joong
Kyung Mo (Kor) 71 74, Digvijay Singh (Ind) 72 73

146 Ter-Chang Wang (Tpe) 71 75, Bryan Saltus (USA) 70 76, Airil Rizman (Mal) 67
79, Sung Lee (Kor) 72 74, Rashid Ismail (Mal) 75 71, Nicholas Fung (Mal) 73 73,
Marcus Both (Aus) 70 76, Alastair Forsyth 71 75, Chinarat Phadungsil (Tha) 71
75

147 Eng seng Lim (Mal) 72 75, Gary Lockerbie 76 71, David Howell 74 73, Unho
Park (Aus) 71 76, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 75 72, Guido Van Der Valk (Ned) 73 74,
Graeme Storm 74 73

148 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 73 75, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 75 73, Niclas Fasth
(Swe) 74 74, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 75 73, Chih-bing Lam (Sin) 74 74, R
Nachimuthu (Mal) 77 71

149 S Murthy (Mal) 76 73, Wen-Tang Lin (Tai) 75 74, Ben Leong (Mal) 74 75, Anis
Helmi (Mal) 76 73, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 73 76, Kane Webber (USA) 73 76, Mardan
Mamat (Sin) 74 75, Artemio-hiromasa Murakami (Phi) 76 73, Rick Kulacz (Aus) 76
73, Dinesh Chand (Fij) 77 72, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 75 74, Gaganjeet Bhullar
(Ind) 76 73

150 Iain Steel (Mal) 76 74, Ted Oh (Kor) 74 76, Clay Devers (USA) 76 74, Mark
Brown (Nzl) 76 74, Rory Hie (Ina) 78 72

151 Taichiro Kiyota (Jpn) 78 73, Periasamy Gunasagaran (Mal) 74 77, Taco Remkes
(Ned) 73 78, Robert Dinwiddie 72 79, Somkiat Sri-sanga (Tha) 78 73

152 Antonio Lascuna (Phi) 77 75, Richie Ramsay 79 73, Marc Warren 76 76,
Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 75 77

153 Gary Murphy 77 76

154 Pablo Martin (Spa) 75 79

156 Chien Tan hau (Mal) 78 78, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 79 77, Amandeep Johl
(Ind) 82 74, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 77 79, Benn Barham 78 78, Akhmal
Tarmizee (Mal) 74 82

157 P Paramaswaran (Mal) 81 76, Scott Strange (Aus) 79 78

159 Teck choo Ng (Mal) 80 79