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ounghan Song of South Korea fired to a nine-under par 133 after two rounds to snatch the lead at the US$1 million SMBC Singapore Open golf tournament, which was again disrupted by storms at the Serapong Golf Course on Friday.

After a relatively quiet run on the opening day, 24-year-old Song, who is currently number 204 in the Official World Golf Rankings, raised his game to strike eight under par for an overall nine.

He carded four birdies in the front nine and another four in the back nine, as well as an eagle and a bogey to pull off a career-high score.

'€œIt'€™s my first time at this course. I had great putts today and made almost all of them,'€ Song said. He played at the Indonesian PGA Championship last year, tying for eighth place.

'€œI feel the golf course is difficult, long and tight. The green is hard, but because I putted well I was able to score. I managed to score well,'€ he added.

Turning in with two opening birdies, Song conquered the fourth hole stunningly, taking only three shots to the cup.

'€œThe highlight of the day was number four, par five [...] tee shot then five-W [wood] second shot to the green and a 20-meter putt to make an eagle,'€ he said.

He hoped to maintain his play on Saturday, when the players will fight for a cut-off.

'€œWe have finished only 36 holes, so I hope I can have the same strokes as today. Of course, I will be playing to win the tournament. It will be fun to play with world number one Jordan [Spieth] if he finishes well,'€ he said.

Overnight joint leader Shintaro Kobayashi of Japan was two strikes back in second place, tied with An Byeong-hun of South Korea.

Kobayashi had caught up with Keith Horne and Berry Henson after having to complete his first round play early in the day. But he failed to maintain his comeback run as he struggled in the front nine, where he fell to a bogey on the fifth and ninth holes.

'€œIt'€™s a good position, so I don'€™t have to be too nervous. I try not to think about position, just concentrate on my golf,'€ Kobayashi said.

Henson stumbled to five bogeys against three birdies as he rounded off his game two over par for an overall three-under-par 139.

An faltered early, bogeying on the third hole. He regained composure later, hitting an eagle before rolling to two birdies, after which the round was suspended at 3 p.m. amid thunder and rainstorms.

The organizers later announced that play would resume at 7.30 a.m. on Saturday.

Almost half of the 156-player field will have to resume play on Saturday, including Japanese Hideto Tanihara, South African Horne and tournament favorite Spieth of the United States.

Tanihara and Horne were trailing the leader by four strokes, the former having completed seven holes and the latter only two.

Meanwhile, Spieth will now face a tough task to haul himself to the top after he put in an average performance in the first six holes. His card was mixed with a birdie and a bogey, which left him five strokes behind the leader.

He was tied with fellow Americans Paul Peterson, Brett Munson, Thanyakon Khrongpha of Thailand and Rahil Gangjee of India. The latter will also have to continue his second round game on Saturday.

'€œI didn'€™t get off to a great start but made a good birdie on number two. I had a couple of bad putts,'€ Spieth said.

'€œI missed a short one on number four. On seven, I got a bit unlucky. I had a perfect distance to the hole, the par five, and just when I hit my second, the wind changed,'€ he said.

He was playing hole number seven when the play was called off.

'€œThat'€™s golf. That'€™s the weather. You can'€™t control that. I could tell it was bad on other parts of the course,'€ he said.

An was also resigned to being forced to turn up the following morning for the delayed second round, hoping that he came back with a refreshed mind.

'€œI do not mind the delay. It means I get to play in better conditions tomorrow morning. The greens will be purer,'€ he said.