McIlroy facing an uphill struggle
Molinari can go third on the European Order of Merit with a victory and might then be close enough to McIlroy to have a chance of catching him at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
But McIlroy still has his fate in his own hands – he defends the Hong Kong Open next week and none of his main challengers is playing there.
Phil Mickelson and Pádraig Harrington were in the same position as Bjorn today, forced to find something else to do and kept waiting before resuming down on two over and three over respectively. Michael Hoey and Peter Lawrie are both one over with Shane Lowry another stroke back.
SINGAPORE SCOREBOARD
6 UnderSimon Dyson (Brit) – 31 holes played, first round score 69; Chapchai Nirat (Tha) – 27, 65
-5– Matteo Manassero (Italy) 32 70 Francesco Molinari (Italy) 30 69 Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 18 66
-4– George Coetzee (South Africa) 29 72 Chris Wood (Britain) 26 70 Simon Khan (Britain) 18 67 Chinnarat Phadungsil (Thailand) 18 67 Pablo Martin (Spain) 18 67
-3– Chan Yih-Shin (Taiwan) 34 71 Rikard Karlberg (Sweden) 33 69 Pablo Larrazabal (Spain) 33 71 Paul Casey (Britain) 18 68 Yang Yong-Eun (South Korea) 18 68 Kwanchai Tannin (Thailand) 18 68
-2– Anirban Lahiri (India) 32 71 Berry Henson (U.S.) 31 71 Anders Hansen (Denmark) 29 69 S.S.P. Chowrasia (India) 26 70 Choo Tze Huang (Singapore) 26 75 David Howell (Britain) 18 69 Himmat Rai (India) 18 69 Jyoti Randhawa (India) 18 69 Richard Green (Australia) 18 69 Hennie Otto (South Africa) 18 69 Garth Mulroy (South Africa) 18 69 Gunn Charoenkul (Thailand) 18 69
-1– Darren Fichardt (South Africa) 34 72 Rory McIlroy 30 70 Thaworn Wiratchant (Thailand) 30 73 Marcus Fraser (Australia) 29 70 Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 28 70 Gregory Havret (France) 27 70 Richard Sterne (South Africa) 27 70 Felipe Aguilar (Chile) 26 70 Jaco Van Zyl (South Africa) 25 68 A Dodt (Australia) 18 70 J Quesne (France) 18 70 P Meesawat (Thailand) 18 70 Richie Ramsay (Britain) 18 70 E Molinari (Italy) 18 70 Yuta Ikeda (Japan) 18 70 S Kapur (India) 18 70
Level– Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa) 30 70 Tony Lascuna (Philippines) 29 71 Gregory Bourdy (France) 29 70 Chiragh Kumar (India) 27 73 Scott Barr (Australia) 26 72 Jonathan Woo (Singapore) 26 70 Joost Luiten (Netherlands) 18 71 A Canizares (Spain) 18 71 Adam Scott (Australia) 18 71 P Hedblom (Sweden) 18 71 G Bhullar (India) 18 71 S Kjeldsen (Denmark) 18 71 J Edfors (Sweden) 18 71 C Nilsson (Sweden) 18 71
1+– Q Quek (Singapore) 33 72 R Cabrera-Bello (Spain) 31 72 J Pagunsan (Philippines) 30 72 L Wenchong (China) 30 74 Kieran Pratt (Australia) 30 71 T Levet (France) 28 73 M Mamat (Singapore) 27 73 B Seuk-Hyun (South Korea) 26 71 E Grillo (Argentina) 26 71 Mo Joong-Kyung (South Korea) 18 72 Azuma Yano (Japan) 18 72 D Kataoka (Japan) 18 72 Angelo Que (Philippines) 18 72 B Wiesberger (Austria) 18 72 C Montgomerie 18 72 Lee Slattery (Britain) 18 72 Thorbjorn Olesen (Denmark) 18 72 Raphael J (France) 18 72 Michael Hoey 18 72 S Gallacher (Britain) 18 72 Mark Foster (Britain) 18 72 A Da Silva (Brazil) 18 72 Peter Lawrie (Ireland) 18 72
