Ireland Rory McIlroy is just two shots off the lead held by playing partner Simon Dyson and South African Ernie Els at the Singapore Open after carding a three-under-par 68 in the second round of the €4million Asian Tour event at the Sentosa Golf Club.

The Holywood golfer birdied the last to move level with Thailand's Chapchai Nirat (68).

Overnight leader Lam chin Bing is was also four under but was only through one hole of his second round after lightning disrupted play at 2.38pm, with only 32 of 148 players having completed their second rounds.

The weather also hampered the progress of Pádaraig Harrington and Darren Clarke. The latter has yet to strike a ball on his second round, while the Dubliner remained one-over par after 20 holes.

Dyson, who began the day with 22 to play, took full advantage of benign conditions on the Serapong course early in the day to finish his opening round on two under before picking up four shots in a flawless second round to move to six under.

Els held the first-round lead after picking up two birdies in his final three holes this morning to move to five under, and he maintained his position with a one-under 70 in his second round.

Australia's Mitchell Brown (70) and Shigeki Maruyama of Japan (68) were on two under while India's Jeev Milkha Singh was one under after firing a 68.

Dyson holed a 10-foot birdie at the 14th to move to one under at the time of the stoppage yesterday and he made it consecutive birdies upon resumption when he stuck a nine iron to within three feet at the 15th.

The 30-year-old continued his good form into the second round with birdies at the 13th, 17th, second and eighth.

"It was fairly solid. I hit a lot of fairways, made some good shots into the greens and hit a lot of good putts. Not all of them went in but some of them did," said the Yorkshireman.

"Four birdies and 14 pars is quite decent and whenever you play a round and don't hit a bogey, it's very satisfying."

Playing alongside close friend McIlroy also appeared to work to the benefit of Dyson.

"I've known Rory since he got his first invite about three years ago," he said of the Ulster teenager. "He's a good lad, good friend and one hell of a player. We've both been pushing each other on and it seems to have worked out well."

After a good start to the day, Els was somewhat disappointed with his second-round effort as he failed to build on the momentum that took him into the
lead.

"I had a nice finish to my round this morning, making two birdies coming in to shoot five under. And I played pretty decent this afternoon but just couldn't get scoring," said the South African.

"I didn't quite make the same putts and it was kind of difficult being focused at some of the holes with some of the pins being in quite awkward positions.

"But I'm satisfied with the way I'm playing. There's still a long way to go and much could happen still."