Local Mardan Mamat leads at halfway

Singapore's Mardan Mamat was still dreaming of a first home victory in the Singapore Masters after moving one stroke clear after the second day.

Mamat, 36, added a four-under-par 68 to his first round 67 to move to nine under in the $US 900,000 tournament at the Laguna National club.

He headed a group of five players -- England's Barry Lane, New Zealand's Eddie Lee, American Greg Hanrahan, Ireland's Damien McGrane and India's Jyoti Randhawa -- on eight under.

New Zealander Michael Campbell was well placed four shots off the lead, with Scotland's Colin Montgomerie in another group five back after his second-round 69.

Lee, a member of both European and Asian Tours, had begun the day well clear.

Following Thursday's thunderstorms, he was one of 57 golfers needing to complete their first rounds early on Friday.

With one hole to play, he carded an eight-under 64, giving him a three-stroke lead, before adding a double-birdie, double-bogey 72.

Mamat, the first Singapore-born golfer to contest the British Open in 1997, also had to return with six holes of his first round to play.

"Hopefully, things will go my way over the weekend," he said. "I just want to continue concentrating hard."

The 31-year-old Randhawa, the first Indian to win on the Asian Tour and also the Tour's leading money winner in 2002, produced a flawless display in his second round of 64 that included three birdies in succession mid-round.

He said a morning chat talk with his yoga guru had helped.

"He told me to play freely, to free my mind and be aware of what I was doing. Just play freely, get aggressive and there was nothing to lose and that's what I did."

McGrane had even more work to get through, with eight holes of his first round left. He finished with a four-under-par 68 and he then repeated that in his second round.

"It's been a tough day playing 26 holes and it's not my cup of tea but it had to be done," he said.

Lane and Hanrahan were the only players among the leaders not directly affected by the storm delay.

Lane, contesting his 496th European Tour event, produced a flawless second round 65 which included three birdies in succession in the middle of his outward nine.

Hanrahan, who once served in the U.S. army, carded a second straight 68 a day shy of his 46th birthday.

Twelve players still had to complete their second rounds when poor light again halted play.

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