Westwood & Caņizares Tied at Malaysian Open


Defending champion Lee Westwood carded a 5-under 67 to maintain his place atop the Maybank Malaysian Open. The European Tour event began Thursday at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club.

Westwood began Friday's second round sharing the lead with Northern Graeme McDowell, but while the Northern Irishman struggled to a 73, Westwood carded six birdies and a bogey to reach 11-under 133. He was joined in first by Spain's Alejandro Caņizares, whose 65 was the low round of the tournament so far.

"I played nicely again," Westwood told the European Tour's website. "It was pretty solid again and I probably only hit one poor shot all day, from the middle of the fairway on the fifth hole - I was going in with a 5-iron and blocked it right into the water.

"Other than that it was very good and I felt very comfortable out there; I hit a lot of fairways and some good iron shots and made some nice putts. It was great to birdie two of the last three and go from one in front to three in front."

Caņizares had a stellar seven-birdie outing. "It was a lot of fun and I played really well," said the 32-year-old from Madrid, a two-time winner in Europe. "I wasn't so good off the tee today, but I putted really well.

"I made some great up-and-downs when I missed a shot, and I'm very happy overall. I can't wait for the weekend - it will be a lot of fun. It's a great position to be in and I couldn't ask for any better; hopefully I can keep it going."

Trailing by three is Austria's Berndt Wiesberger (66), while four back are England's Paul Waring (68) and Ireland's Peter Lawrie (66). Canada's Richard T. Lee (69) and Brit Richard Bland (70) share sixth at 138.

McDowell is in eighth at 139 after recording four birdies, three bogeys and a double on the par-4 12th hole.

Tied for ninth at 140 are Robert Rock, Andy Sullivan, Jake Higginbottom, Alvaro Quiros, Gregory Bourdy, Juvio Pagunsan and Prom Meesawat.

For all the scores, visit http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2015/tournamentid=2015008/leaderboard/index.html.