Rory McIlroy looks certain to miss the cut in Malaysia

McIlroy's round of eight bogeys and five birdies left him 13 shots behind England's Nick Dougherty.

However, Graeme McDowell joined the glut of low scores by firing a 66 while Darren Clarke shot a battling 69.

Peter Lawrie (69), Gary Murphy (70), Paul McGinley (71) and Damien McGrane (71) all broke par.

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McIlroy had fired a nine-under-par 63 in Tuesday's pro-am at the Kota Permai Golf and Country Club, which included a hole-in-one.

However, the 18-year-old was struggling from the start of Thursday's round as he dropped three shots in his opening six holes.

After going to the turn in 38, McIlroy needed birdies on his back nine but four more bogeys followed to leave him with an almighty task to make Friday's cut.

McDowell produced a very tidy round of six birdes and no dropped shots while Clarke recovered from a bad start to post a three-under-par round.

Clarke dropped a shot at the first and a further double bogey on the fifth saw him going to the turn in 37.

However, the Dungannon man responded with birdies on 10 and 11 and an eagle three at the long 12th.

At that stage, Clarke had moved to three under but he was unable to build on that momentum as he parred his closing six holes.