Bernd Wiesberger of Austria plays a shot during Day Two of the Maybank Championship Malaysia at Saujana Golf Club in Kuala Lumpur. Photo / Getty Images.
Bernd Wiesberger of Austria plays a shot during Day Two of the Maybank Championship Malaysia at Saujana Golf Club in Kuala Lumpur. Photo / Getty Images.
Bernd Wiesberger reeled off nine birdies in a row in a superb second round of 63 to grab a one-shot lead over Masters champion Danny Willett at the Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.
The 31-year-old lit up the Saujana Golf and Country Club with the birdie blitz fromthe seventh to 15th holes to go 12-under after 36 to boost his prospects of a fourth European Tour title.
Australia's Sam Brazel, who sits fifth on the European money list followed up his opening-round 66 with a 71 to be tied for seventh.
Wiesberger is the first player in European Tour history to card nine straight birdies in a round but with preferred lies in place - when players are allowed to improve the ball's lie without penalty on certain parts of the course - the Austrian will not make the record books.
"I hit really good shots and I just felt calm out there," he said after returning a card that included 11 birdies and two bogeys.
"It felt kind of natural, I hit pretty good shots and really only holed two long ones which were the last birdie of the nine on 15 and about a 20-footer on 11.
"Apart from that I just hit them pretty close and felt like I had a good idea of what the ball was going to do on the green today again which was nice."
Englishman Willett hit six birdies and a bogey in his 67 to sit at 11-under, two shots clear of Frenchman Mike Lorenzo-Vera and American David Lipsky.
