Shane Lowry came within a whisker of pulling off the comeback of the year in the Maybank Malaysian Open but nothing matched Pablo Larrazábal's dramatic escape from a swarm of hornets at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club.

As Lowry followed his opening 80 with a 66 only to miss the one-over par cut by one, Larrázabal had to overcome being stung by a swarm of hornets after he swatted one away on the fifth hole, his 14th. 

The Spaniard described it as the scariest moment of his life after jumping in a lake to stop them stinging him, but rallied to birdie that hole en route to a two under par 70.

"They were three times the size of bees," he said. "They were huge and like 30 or 40 of them started to attack me big time. I didn't know what to do. My caddie told me to run, so I start running like a crazy guy, but the hornets were still there, so the other players told me to jump in the lake. 

"I ran to the lake, threw my scorecard down, took off my shoes and jumped in the water. It was the scariest moment of my career, for sure. I've never been so scared."

He added: "I had to throw my shirt and hat away, and the towel I'd been swatting them with. The referees and a doctor took me aside and gave me a couple of injections and told me to relax. After the injections I felt a lot better and could continue. Without the help of the referees I couldn't have finished the round, because I was in no state to play golf.

"Tomorrow it will be very, very scary to play that hole. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but hopefully I will play it as quickly as I can."

While all this was going on Lee Westwood was on fire again in the second round, carding a six under par 66 to take a comfortable, four stroke lead on 13 under par at halfway.

“On the front nine I was five under and the longest putt I holed was from about four feet, on the first," Westwood said. "It was solid stuff. I got a bit unlucky at the 11th – the wind just gusted on me and it came up short into the water. I made double there, but I rallied well.

“I’ve started working with Mike Walker about six or seven weeks ago. I saw an immediate improvement on the range but at first it was difficult to take it onto the golf course. But the last few weeks I’ve managed to do that, which is very pleasing.”

Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts (69) and Antonio Lascuna (65) of the Philippines are tied second on nine under with England’s Danny Willett up to fourth place on eight under after a 66.

Michael Hoey bogeyed three of his last five holes for a 73 that dropped him to tied 13th on four under with Simon Thornton back in 25th on two under after a tidy 68.

Lowry had 36 putts in a first round 80 but needed only 24 in the second round as he improved by 14 shots and fired seven birdies in a six under 66.

"What a difference a day makes...," he wrote on Twitter.

Sadly, he missed the cut by a shot, his fifth failure from seven outings this season, and badly needs a confidence boosting result in the Volvo China Open next week.

Damien McGrane also missed the cut, adding a level par 72 to his opening 77 to finish four strokes from safety.

Meanwhile on the PGA Tour, defending champion Graeme McDowell picked up two birdies early in the second round to move up to tied fifth on two under in the weather-delayed RBC Heritage at Harbour Town. 

Early starter K.J. Choi made six birdies en route to a 67 and a one-shot lead over Robert Allenby at five under before heavy rain forced play to be suspended for the day.

McDowell managed just six holes before play was suspended with half the field still to finish.

The Ulsterman, who opened with a level par 71, is one of eight players tied for eighth on two under thanks to birdies at the second and sixth.

(McDowell has been both inspired and inspiring at Hilton Head, according to David Lauderdale in The State)

Maybank Malaysia Open 

131 L Westwood (Eng) 65 66,

135 A Lascuna (Phi) 70 65, N Colsaerts  (Bel) 66 69,

136 D Willett  (Eng) 70 66,

137 A Sullivan (Eng) 70 67, E De La Riva  (Esp) 69 68, J Quesne  (Fra) 68 69,

138 M Kawamura (Jpn) 68 70, R Santos  (Por) 67 71,

139 J Kruger (RSA) 68 71, S Jamieson  (Sco) 68 71, G Mulroy (RSA) 71 68,

140 B Wiesberger  (Aut) 69 71, S Hend (Aus) 70 70, L Oosthuizen  (RSA) 72 68, S Lewton (Eng) 71 69, M Hoey  (Nir) 67 73,

141 A Vongvanij (Tha) 70 71, P Marksaeng (Tha) 69 72, T Lewis (Eng) 70 71, S Chowrasia (Ind) 71 70, W Ormsby (Aus) 70 71, R Karlberg  (Swe) 72 69, P Meesawat  (Tha) 70 71,

142 T Jaidee (Tha) 72 70, S Thornton (Irl) 74 68, R Bland (Eng) 73 69, J Knutzon (USA) 75 67, T Pieters  (Bel) 75 67, R Gangjee (Ind) 74 68, D Drysdale (Sco) 71 71, C Pigem (Esp) 71 71, E Molinari  (Ita) 69 73, A Quiros  (Esp) 73 69, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 71 71, P Larrazábal (Esp) 74 68,

143 G Bourdy (Fra) 73 70, N Fung (Mas) 72 71, M Carlsson  (Swe) 74 69, A Dodt (Aus) 76 67, J Walters (RSA) 71 72, S Rahman (Ban) 73 70, S Kjeldsen (Den) 75 68, M Manassero (Ita) 71 72, R Wattel  (Fra) 71 72, M Siem  (Ger) 72 71,

144 C Lee (Sco) 69 75, A Lahiri (Ind) 72 72, P Junhasavasdikul (Tha) 73 71, T Wiratchant (Tha) 69 75, J Hansen  (Den) 72 72, M Kieffer (Ger) 70 74, B Easton (RSA) 70 74, A Da Silva (Bra) 72 72, C Kumar (Ind) 74 70, R Khan  (Ind) 72 72, S Dyson  (Eng) 73 71, M Warren (Sco) 69 75, K Kheng Hwai (Mas) 72 72, M Crespi  (Ita) 71 73, G Green (am) (Mas) 74 70,

145 J Janewattananond (Tha) 73 72, R Lee (Can) 69 76, F Molinari (Ita) 71 74, N Tantipokhakul (Tha) 76 69, P Whiteford (Sco) 73 72, R Derksen (Ned) 72 73, C Plaphol (Tha) 74 71, C Phadungsil  (Tha) 74 71, S Kapur (Ind) 76 69, A Kang (USA) 71 74, S Hansen (Den) 69 76, H Otto (RSA) 79 66,

CUT

146 R Jacquelin (Fra) 70 76, C Nirat (Tha) 77 69, G Storm  (Eng) 80 66, Y Wei-Tze (Tpe) 73 73, L Sung (Kor) 77 69, J Randhawa (Ind) 76 70, B Henson (USA) 72 74, R Rock (Eng) 73 73, R Ramsay  (Sco) 74 72, S Lowry  (Irl) 80 66, S Othman  (Mas) 76 70,

147 M Mamat (Sin) 71 76, M Perera (Sri) 74 73, T Fleetwood  (Eng) 70 77, J Colomo  (Esp) 72 75, B Leong  (Mas) 72 75, M Madsen  (Den) 80 67, M Kobayashi (Jpn) 73 74, A Forsyth (Sco) 74 73, S Benson (Eng) 79 68, E Salvador (Phi) 71 76,

148 G Havret  (Fra) 73 75, J Singh (Ind) 77 71, M Baldwin (Eng) 77 71, G Charoenkul (Tha) 75 73, T Levet (Fra) 74 74,

149 M Stieger (Aus) 82 67, A Zahari (Mas) 78 71, C Kim (USA) 77 72, K Pratt (Aus) 74 75, P Uihlein  (USA) 75 74, D Singh             (Ind) 74 75, D Howell (Eng) 76 73, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 76 73, D Chia (Mas) 75 74, S Barr (Aus) 76 73, A Atwal (Ind) 75 74,

150 S Muda (Mas) 79 71, D McGrane (Irl) 78 72, G Bhullar (Ind) 75 75, R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 77 73, M Joong-Kyung (Kor) 74 76, K Gi-Whan (Kor) 77 73, K De Silva  (Mas) 75 75, F Aguilar (Chi) 73 77,

151 S Hussin (Mas) 74 77, A Irawan (Mas) 74 77, D Horsey (Eng) 75 76, A Hansen (Den) 76 75, L Wei-Chih (Tpe) 76 75, I Steel (Mas) 73 78, K Sung-Hoon (Kor) 79 72,

152 L In-Woo (Kor) 79 73, R Gonzalez (Arg) 73 79,

153 A Cañizares  (Esp) 78 75, S Sivachandran (Mas) 80 73, J Jin (Kor) 75 78, R Amin (Mas) 78 75, E Pepperell (Eng) 80 73, D Lipsky (USA) 79 74,

154 P Pittayarat (Tha) 74 80, H Rai (Ind) 77 77, E Chang (am) (Mas) 83 71,

155 B Ruangkit (Tha) 78 77, W Choo (Mas) 77 78, S Cyr (USA) 79 76, P Hedblom (Swe) 77 78, R Nachimuthu  (Mas) 74 81,

156 G Porteous (Eng) 79 77, K Baharin (Mas) 79 77,

157 U Park (Aus) 77 80, E Grillo (Arg) 81 76,

159 J Granberg  (Fin) 82 77, M Wafiyuddin (am) (Mas) 84 75,

160 M Jamil (Mas) 79 81, T Chi-Huang (Tpe) 79 81,

161 J Parry (Eng) 84 77,

162 M Ilonen  (Fin) 83 79,

163 S Murthy (Mas) 80 83,

165 S Rosidin (am) (Mas) 85 80,

** B Seuk-Hyun (Kor) 70 RT, D Kataoka (Jpn) 77 WD, L Wen-Tang (Tpe) RT  0,