GOLF: EUROPEAN AND US TOURS:RORY McILROY gave a clear demonstration yesterday that his Masters heartache would not hang over him as he fired an eight-under-par second round of 64 to join Alexander Noren at the top of the leaderboard at the Maybank Malaysian Open.
The Northern Irishman 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 at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club this week, hitting eight birdies yesterday in a bogey-free round which took him to 11 under after 36 holes.
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 three at the par-four 17th. Coming home McIlroy added three more birdies to move alongside first-round leader Noren of Sweden, who fired a three-under-par round of 69 to add to his opening-day 64.
Asked whether his round had proved to him he was over his Masters misery, McIlroy replied: “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. 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.”
Simon Dyson matched McIlroy’s second-round score to move into third at 10 under. Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher shot a two-under-par 70 to add to his first-day 67, which was good enough for a share of fourth place alongside Brett Rumford at seven under.
A thunderstorm forced the later starters and spectators away from the course, with play resuming at 6.15pm local time after a delay of more than two-and-a-half hours.
One of the players affected was Italian Matteo Manassero, who turns 18 next week. He was second at the end of the first round at six under par but could not improve that total through 13 holes of his second round, and will resume at 7.40am local time tomorrow as the second round spills over into day three.
Another player who may challenge for the halfway lead is Australian Scott Barr, who was three under through 10 holes to join Manassero, Pablo Martin and Danny Lee of New Zealand in a tie for sixth at six under, with the latter two in the clubhouse.
Masters champion Charl Schwartzel is in danger of missing the cut. Level par for the tournament through 13 holes of his second round, he is tied 61st alongside fellow South African Louis Oosthuizen — the 2010 Open champion. Both were one shot above the projected cut mark.
MALAYSIAN OPEN: COMPLETED SECOND ROUND SCORES
133 Rory McIlroy 69 64, Alexander Noren (Swe) 64 69
134 Simon Dyson 70 64
137 Brett Rumford (Aus) 69 68, Stephen Gallacher 67 70
138 Danny Lee (Nzl) 71 67, Pablo Martin (Spa) 73 65
139 Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 69 70, Siddikur Rahman (Ban) 68 71
140 Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 70 70, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 71 69, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 70 70, Danny Willett 71 69, James Morrison 69 71, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 70 70
141 David Drysdale 69 72, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 69 72, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 70 71, Peter Lawrie 70 71, Graeme Storm 71 70
142 John Parry 74 68, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 72
143 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 73 70, Boonchu Ruangkit (Tha) 71 72, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 73 70, Pariya Junhasavasdikul (Tha) 75 68, Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 71 72, Alastair Forsyth 72 71, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 71 72, Tano Goya (Arg) 72 71
144 Yih-Shin Chan (Tpe) 70 74, Gareth Maybin 73 71, Peter Karmis (Rsa) 73 71, Mark Brown (Nzl) 73 71, Kenichi Kuboya (Jpn) 74 70, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 73 71, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 71 73
145 Tony Carolan (Aus) 74 71, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 74 71, Michael Hoey 75 70
146 Ben Fox (USA) 73 73, Antonio Lascuna (Phi) 75 71, John Bickerton 71 75, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 73 73
147 Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 73 74, Scott Hend (Aus) 75 72, David Gleeson (Aus) 76 71, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 74 73, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 72 75
148 Chan tuck Soon (Mal) 71 77, Digvijay Singh (Ind) 75 73, Khor Wai hwai (Mal) 75 73
149 Gaurav Ghei (Ind) 73 76, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 81 68, Angelo Que (Phi) 74 75, Rashid Ismail Md (Mal) 74 75, Wen-hong Lin (Chn) 74 75
150 Shaifubari Muda (Mal) 75 75, Gary Boyd 78 72, Iain Steel (Mal) 72 78, Sung Lee (Kor) 76 74, Mars Pucay (Phi) 73 77, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 73 77
151 Matthew Nixon 79 72, Mohd Shukree Othman (Mal) 74 77
152 Airil Rizman (Mal) 80 72
153 Thammanoon Srirot (Tha) 77 76, Lucas Lee (USA) 78 75, Hanafiah Jamil (Mal) 74 79, Ross Bain 77 76
155 Anthony Kang (USA) 75 80, Nicholas Fung (Mal) 76 79, Gavin kyle Green (Mal) 80 75, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 79 76, Kunal Bhasin (Ind) 82 73
161 Marcel Siem (Ger) 72 89
167 Mohamad Basharudin (Mal) 84 83
