Niall Turner was struck down by food poisoning and slipped to 65th after a disappointing 77 as Masters champion Danny Willett surged three shots clear at the Maybank Championship in Malaysia.

Tied for 19th at halfway, the Cork golfer was ill on the course and mixed two birdies with two bogeys, a double bogey and a triple to slip to level par.

"I got food poisoning last night and with 40-degree heat and a hilly course, it made it a complete nightmare day," Turner lamented. 

"I got sick on the course as well, and hopefully I will feel better in the morning. But it is hugely disappointing."

The 33-year old needs a solid final round to make it a profitable week at Saujana Golf and Country Club in steamy Kuala Lumpur where Willett, 29, is looking for his first win since he claimed the green jacket at Augusta National.

He shot a five-under-par 67 to lead by three shots on 16 under from playing partner David Lipsky (68).

Alexander Levy of France is a shot further back as he chases a fourth European Tour title and a second in Asia, while two of his compatriots – Grégory Havret and Mike Lorenzo-Vera – joined three others on 11 under par, five shots off the lead.

Danny Willett

“It was an up and down day; I’d have taken a 67 at the start of the day, it spreads the top five and top six guys out a bit more and further away. I’m probably going to go hit a few balls and make a few little minor tweaks here and there to try to get the driver to where it’s been most of the week.

“(At the 18th) I hit an OK drive and it leaked a little bit and nipped in by the palm trees on the right. I had 221 yards for a 247 flag and just tried to hit a big cut down out of the right. It was pretty tricky; I needed to miss that first palm tree with the leaves hanging over.

“I hit it well but it’s just gone absolutely bullet straight, and in the air I’m thinking it should probably pitch just short of the grandstand and it flew a lot further then I thought. It could have gone anywhere, but luckily it’s just gone around the back and you just go and drop in the drop zone.

“It comes and goes, the luck. I missed a couple of putts, but there were a couple of loose swings in there. I still hit good shots when I needed to hit them. I wasn’t making it too tough for myself when I went into the greens, I hit a lot - not necessarily close - but missed a few of the chances that I had.

“You can’t change your mindset really. Today the wind was completely in the other direction and gusting and swirling so I don’t think you can talk through strategy. You’re trying to hit it to the same spots and with the wind today, all that happened was we changed club to try hit those spots.

“I’m not sure what will win it, to be honest, depends on if we pitch up and it’s flat calm. I think there’s a few guys that can go low if it’s windy like this. One or two under par is a good knock out there so I think it all depends on the weather tomorrow.”

200 D Willett (Eng) 66 67 67, 
203 D Lipsky (USA) 68 67 68, 
204 A Levy (Fra) 69 68 67, 
205 K Kim (Kor) 68 68 69, G Havret (Fra) 69 70 66, B Wiesberger (Aut) 69 63 73, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 70 65 70, P Pittayarat (Tha) 70 69 66, 
206 F Zanotti (Par) 70 69 67, A Lahiri (Ind) 69 68 69, 
207 S Sharma (Ind) 68 68 71, 
208 J Veerman (USA) 73 68 67, G Bhullar (Ind) 66 72 70, T Jaidee (Tha) 71 68 69, L Haotong (Chn) 71 69 68, 
209 T Fleetwood (Eng) 72 68 69, S Kapur (Ind) 70 67 72, P Larrazábal (Esp) 72 67 70, P Khongwatmai (Tha) 65 75 69, L Westwood (Eng) 73 66 70, P Peterson (USA) 71 70 68, H Porteous (RSA) 70 72 67, 
210 S Brazel (Aus) 66 71 73, R Khan (Ind) 72 68 70, M Siem (Ger) 66 71 73, R Paratore (Ita) 69 71 70, M Warren (Sco) 63 75 72, B Leong (Mas) 70 71 69, 
211 J Morrison (Eng) 70 67 74, S Rahman (Ban) 69 69 73, S Lee (Kor) 67 73 71, R Rock (Eng) 71 67 73, D Rahman (am) (Mas) 73 67 71, 
212 P Meesawat (Tha) 69 70 73, L Bjerregaard (Den) 69 70 73, P Swangarunporn (Tha) 70 72 70, W Ashun (Chn) 73 67 72, L Wenchong (Chn) 70 70 72, C Pigem (Esp) 72 69 71, P Uihlein (USA) 66 76 70, M Kieffer (Ger) 71 70 71, M Manassero (Ita) 71 66 75, M Korhonen (Fin) 73 69 70, 
213 C Kumar (Ind) 70 72 71, C Paisley (Eng) 72 70 71, N Bertasio (Ita) 69 71 73, R Wattel (Fra) 68 70 75, F Aguilar (Chi) 72 70 71, T Sinnott (Aus) 70 70 73, R Cabrera Bello (Esp) 70 72 71, M Kawamura (Jpn) 74 68 71, L Jensen (Den) 67 73 73, A Da Silva (Bra) 72 69 72, 
214 L Wei-Chih (Tpe) 69 73 72, T Chuayprakong (Tha) 69 73 72, A Dodt (Aus) 72 69 73, D Chia (Mas) 72 69 73, N Fung (Mas) 70 72 72, G Green (Mas) 68 71 75, 
215 S Hend (Aus) 74 66 75, D Koh (Sin) 72 70 73, J Colomo (Esp) 72 70 73, K Horne (RSA) 73 68 74, G Stal (Fra) 72 70 73, 
216 Niall Turner (Irl) 68 71 77, A Otaegui (Esp) 70 72 74, J Campillo (Esp) 73 69 74, 
217 J Randhawa (Ind) 73 69 75.

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