He was left stranded on the 15th tee but on Saturday he fired birdies at the 17th and 18th for a six-under round of 66 and a halfway total of eight-under-par 136.

That was good enough to join Michael Campbell in the lead, the New Zealander having completed his 67 before the deluge.

"I'm very happy to come back at 8am and finish with a couple of birdies," said Harrington, who has been playing down his chances all week in what is only his second event of the 2001 season.

"I'm still a bit ropey and hitting a few bad shots. I couldn't ask to be in a better position, I could ask for more control, but I must be doing something right to be up there."

Korea's Wook-Soon Kang was in third place on seven under after a best-of-the-week 65, with five players a shot further back, including Masters champion Vijay Singh.

Singh also picked up a birdie when he returned to play the final two holes of his round this morning to card a 70 and remain in contention for his second Malaysian Open title.

The halfway cut fell at two over par and claimed the scalp of Seve Ballesteros, who finished eight over, his 20-year-old nephew Raul, at six over, and Yorkshire's Simon Dyson, who finished 13 over.

But John Daly safely made the final two rounds at level par after matching rounds of 72.

Harrington, who lost in the first round of the World Matchplay in January in his only other tournament this season, also birdied the sixth to move to 11 under - and with Campbell dropping a shot on the same hole he could have expected to extend his lead.

But the main challenge was now coming from Singh, who was justifying his position as pre-tournament favourite by picking up a hat-trick of birdies from the fifth to reach nine under and keep the gap at two shots.

In contrast Campbell had yet to make a single birdie, and the dropped shot on six meant he was now four shots off the lead.

Harrington's lack of competitive golf eventually caught up with him on the ninth when he went through the back of the green and fluffed his chip to run up a bogey five.

At 10 under par he was now just one clear of Singh - who saved par superbly after pulling his second shot well left of the green on the same hole - while Campbell was also back in contention.

The Kiwi picked up his first birdie of the day on the ninth, holing from eight feet to move to eight under and within two of playing partner Harrington.

For the third day running play was then suspended because of an afternoon thunderstorm, with Harrington still one ahead of Singh after 10 holes.

Tournament officials were optimistic they would be able to restart play at some stage as they battled to keep on schedule and start the final round on time on Sunday morning.