KUALA LUMPUR - Louis Oosthuizen accelerated his remarkable comeback from US Masters heartbreak as he seized control of the rain-interrupted Maybank Malaysian Open yesterday.
The world No.19, completing his second round after a heavy storm on Friday, fired two birdies on his last six holes for four-under-par 68 and a one-shot lead over a field containing four other major-winners.
Oosthuizen lost out to Bubba Watson in a Masters play-off less than a week ago, and he has contended with a 30-hour journey across 12 time zones, plus extreme heat, a tropical storm and travelling with his two young children.
But the unflappable South African has oozed class at the par-72 Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club and he followed up his first-day 66 for an aggregate score of 10-under 134 in the $US2.5 million ($A2.40 million) European and Asian Tour event. Fellow South Africans Jbe Kruger and Hennie Otto, and Scotland's Stephen Gallacher, are a stroke back in joint second.