AN early birdie put Droit-wich's John Bickerton on one under par at the start of the third round of the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur today.

The Worcestershire star made a two at the par three 12th to leave him in joint 48th place.

There were four joint leaders on seven under -- Finland's Miko Ilonen, Sung-man Lee of Korea, Ireland's Paul McGinley and Thawom Wiratchant of Thailand.

Colin Montgomerie, who had just sunk an eagle on the 13th when play was suspended as a tropical storm lashed the Sau-jana Club, picked up one more shot over his last five holes and sat three off the lead.