The third-ranked Englishman followed eight straight pars with a birdie at the last hole to take a five-shot clubhouse lead at 11-under 133.

"You want to be leading tournaments and I obviously got the hang of playing on this golf course. More importantly, I was patient and I didn't force things to happen," Westwood said. "I'm glad I finished. I can relax this afternoon and prepare for the weekend." Zaw Moe of Myanmar was at 8 under through 12 holes when the second round was suspended due to rain and lightning.

"The suspension didn't stop any momentum in my game. I've been playing well so I'm not worried," said Moe, who will complete the round Saturday morning along with 74 other golfers. "I'll just play my game and hopefully at the start of the third round, I'll be in the same flight as Westwood." Kieran Pratt of Australia (65) is in second place at 6 under overall, followed by Shiv Kapur of India (71) a further stroke behind.

In Beijing, Chinese prodigy Guan Tianlang, 13, missed out on becoming the youngest player to make the cut in a European Tour event when he finished 12 over par after 36 holes at the Volvo China Open on Friday.

The Guangzhou schoolboy followed up his first round five-over-par 77 with a 79 at par-72 Tianjin Binhai Lake Golf Club. Guan was tied 150th out of 155 players in the $3 million event co-sanctioned by OneAsia.

Guan had already made history just by teeing off in Tianjin at the age of 13 years and 177 days. The youngest cut-maker on the European Tour is Jason Hak, who reached the weekend at the 2008 Hong Kong Open aged 14 years and 304 days.

The story of the slight Guan, who started playing aged four and won the world junior title by 11 shots last year in San Diego, has outshone some of the big names taking part in Tianjin including Ian Poulter and Paul Casey.

Guan, who also has hopes of reaching this year's US Open through qualifying, received a last-minute entry to the tournament via the China Golf Association.

"Long term, I was the youngest player to win the China amateur championship and it would be nice to be the youngest to win the (Volvo China) Open," he said this week.

After two rounds England's Gary Boyd and Jean-Baptiste Gonnet of France shared the lead with 11-under-par totals of 133.

"It was good today because the conditions were tough," Boyd said afterwards, according to a OneAsia statement. "It was cold and windy out there so it makes the score all the more satisfying." He credited a return to his old coach for his good form, after had tried unsuccessfully to tinker with his game.

"There wasn't a lot wrong there but this is such a mental game that if the confidence slips a little bit it can just start to multiply the problems pretty quickly and all of a sudden you are down on yourself." The Frenchman Gonnet also stressed keeping things simple, even under pressure.

"I have to go back to the five year old kid and try to play for fun. That will be the main aim for the weekend — to go out there and try to enjoy it because there is no point in playing the game if you are not having fun." England's Poulter closed with birdie, birdie for a 71, scraping over the cut by a single shot, and Colin Montgomerie was seven strokes off the lead. But Casey, who has struggled with injury, missed the cut at three-over-par 147.