Graeme McDowell raced into the halfway lead at the Ballantine's Championship in South Korea yesterday as the gusts howling in from the East China Sea subsided. The wind delayed the start of play by two hours, forcing McDowell by the end of the day to stride, then jog and finally run between holes as the sun set behind the volcanic hills that mark the wind-exposed southernmost tip of Korea.

“It's tough to keep the focus, but when you're playing speed golf it takes the brain out of the game, which is a good thing for us,” McDowell said, after he birdied the 18th with a 45-foot putt in near-darkness.

The 28-year-old from Ballymoney in Northern Ireland, had been racing all day. In his group was Thomas Björn, the Dane, who had threes on the first seven holes of the day on his way to a six-under-par round of 66, eight under for the tournament.

McDowell played a faultless, bogey-free round of 64, including a 20-foot putt for an eagle on the 10th, to finish on 12 under at the end of the second day, and he paid tribute to Björn for bringing out the best in his game. “I love playing with Thomas. He gave me a bunker-play lesson and a couple of putting tips earlier in the week,” McDowell said.

Behind McDowell, on ten under par, were Johan Edfors, of Sweden, and Jeev Milkha Singh, of India, still groggy after a golf buggy accident last week. Kim Hyung Tae led the charge for the host nation on nine under par, where he was tied with Paul McGinley, of Ireland.

McGinley rode the gusts to sign for a five-under-par round of 67 early in proceedings, putting him on top of the leaderboard for much of the day. He had hoped that the wind would not ease to allow big-hitters to take advantage of the lack of rough and generous fairways. But with the wind at his back, the 41-year-old was able to find extra yards with the driver.

“It's unique for me to be able to get to par-fives in two,” he said. “Now I know how Tiger [Woods] feels every round.”

McGinley's tee shot at the 1st travelled 340 yards, against a normal drive of about 285 yards. “And that was landing in the rough,” McGinley said. “If I had landed on the fairway it would have been another 20 yards, so that tells you how strong the wind was. Without question, golfers are now athletes, and I'm no different. I'm hitting the ball a hell of a lot farther. But there's only so much I can do - I'm 5ft 7in and I've got Irish genes.”

McDowell is another player who has slimmed down in recent years - a fact not unnoticed when he was dashing between shots with Björn and the generously proportioned Prom Meesawat, from Thailand. “I like to think I might pip that one,” McDowell said of the prospect of a 100 metres dash.

Padraig Harrington, the Open champion, played one of the rounds of the day with a seven-under-par 65, while Oliver Wilson was the highest-placed Englishman on five under. Some 47 players were unable to complete the second round because of the delays.