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NICK Dougherty had two reasons to smile after sinking a four-foot birdie at the final hole to regain a share of the lead at the Maybank Malaysian Open.

In addition to joining local favourite Danny Chia on 12 under at Kota Permai Golf and Country Club, the 25-year-old was also able to avoid a 7.45am re-start today after secondround play was suspended for over two hours due to lightning.

It's nice to finish as I really didn't want to come back first thing tomorrow morning just to play one hole and then sit around all day waiting for my tee time,'' said the Liverpudlian, who held the first-round lead after a spectacular 62.

I'm very pleased we managed to get that last hole in as we didn't think we would and I'm even more pleased to have birdied it.'' Dougherty made ten birdies on Thursday but the second round proved to be far more frustrating as he had two bogeys to go along with four birdies.

I played pretty well but I didn't make anything all day,'' he said.

It is ironic really as I didn't play much differently to yesterday.

I putted well but didn't make them so it was frustrating in that respect.

But I'm not too disappointed and quite pleased with the way I responded to such an exciting round yesterday.

It is easy to stall and I felt I kept going forward.'' Graeme Storm is five shots off the lead after a second-round 68 on the back of his opening 69.

The Hartlepool player dropped three shots, but had an eagle on the par-five seventh.

Chia, a former Kota Permai touring pro, had taken the clubhouse lead after a round of 67 in the morning.

It's always been one of my dreams to win the Malaysian Open,'' said Chia, who was given a sponsor's invitation to play in the tournament.

Every year it gets tougher and tougher as it is now jointly sanctioned (with the Asian Tour) but it's made me more excited to see my name on the leaderboard I think the first thing is to stop thinking about winning or what position I will finish.

The best thing for me right now is to go out and do my job and try to do what I've done the last two rounds.'' Forty-nine players have yet to complete their rounds after lightning struck in the afternoon, including Jyoti Randhawa of India, who is 11 under through 16 holes.

Randhawa, tied for third with Denmark's Soren Kjeldsen (68), will resume at 7.45am today with the cut, projected to be four under, made when everyone has concluded their rounds.

Peter Hedblom of Sweden, birdied two of his last three holes for a 68 to move to ten under.

9:32am Saturday 8th March 2008

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