Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke, who have such high hopes for the coming season, made the worst possible starts by missing the halfway cut in the Benson and Hedges Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

The formbook was torn up as the two main attractions at the £468,000 tournament crashed out and American Gerry Norquist, ranked outside the world's top 200, raced into a five-stroke lead.

Clarke's second round 79 was his worst score since an 80 in the 1996 Scottish Open at Carnoustie and on the 11 over par total of 155 he was joint 129th of the 150 starters.

For most of the day world number six Westwood, who followed his first round 76 with a 72, seemed likely to survive on four over. But five hours after he finished he discovered that his bogey on the 413-yard eighth - his 17th - had put him out as well.

Norquist, meanwhile, had his second successive 67 and is suddenly a red-hot favourite for the £75,000 first prize. The 36-year-old stands 10 under par and his nearest challengers on five under are fellow American Dean Wilson, Spanish rookie Tomas Munoz, South Korean Choi Kyoung-ju and defending champion Ed Fryatt.

Westwood said: "I'm very disappointed because I don't miss many cuts."

Winner of the pro-am with the King of Malaysia on Tuesday and attached to the Saujana club, the 25-year-old from Worksop described his performance as "very rusty" and "very scrappy."

Clarke, runner-up to Colin Montgomerie on last year's Order of Merit after capturing the season-ending Volvo Masters, did not mince his words despite having had an even longer lay-off than Westwood.

Home in 42 with four bogeys and then a double bogey the 30-year-old Ulsterman commented: "That was shockingly bad.

"Everything was way off and I've never been known for my prowess on grainy greens. There's something wrong with my swing and I have a lot of work to do."

Norquist is based in Phoenix, but is well known in Asia. He finished second on their money list three years ago and won the Malaysian Open in 1993.

For the second day running he collected six birdies, one of them courtesy of a 50-foot putt on the short 12th.