KUALA LUMPUR: Rory McIlroy birdied his final hole of the day to move two strokes clear Saturday in the weather-hit Malaysian Open, while Masters champion Charl Schwartzel earlier narrowly made the cut for the third round. Overcoming his recent final-round collapse at the Masters, Northern Ireland's McIlroy moved to 12-under par after nine holes of the third round. Only a dozen players completed their third round after rain and lightning disrupted hours of play at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club for the second straight day. Schwartzel just made the cut earlier Saturday when he carded 1-under 71 in the second round to finish on 144. The South African ended the day at 2-under through 11 holes of the third round. Top-ranked Martin Kaymer is at 9-under after 15 holes, moving up from 25th to sharing fifth place with Felipe Aguilar. But it was Frenchman Gregory Bourdy who dominated the third round with seven birdies against a lone bogey through 14 holes. He and Italian teenager Matteo Manasserro were tied for second. Defending champion Noh Seung-yul of South Korea finished on 145 in the second round, missing the cut to advance into the third round by one stroke. 7 share lead PGA Tour rookie Brendan Steele double-bogeyed the par-4 15th to lose a two-stroke lead at the Texas Open, then finished with a par-72 to fall into a rare seven-way tie atop the leaderboard at 3 under Friday. That is equal to the second-most crowded leaderboard in the PGA Tour after 36 holes since 1970. Strong winds prevented anyone from breaking out, and Friday's average round of 75.289 was the highest on the tour since the 2008 British Open. After missing what would've been his fifth birdie, Steele tapped in No. 18 to finish at par-72. He shared the lead with Geoff Ogilvy (72), Rich Beem (70), Kevin Sutherland (70), Charley Hoffman (73), Brandt Snedeker (72), and Kevin Chappell (73).
