SINGAPORE, November 11, 2011 - The unheralded 26-year-old from Weybridge was standing on the 15th fairway when black clouds loomed over Sentosa Golf Club but he returned to complete a three-under-par round of 68, including a peach of a birdie on 18.
Morrison held the clubhouse lead on 12-under-par 130 as a who's who of golf jostled to survive the cut in the rain-hit second round, which looked set to continue into Saturday.
Last year's British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen stormed to eight-under 63 for a share of seventh and England's Justin Rose was five-under through 16 holes as he made a charge at the $6 million event.
But ex-major champions Ernie Els and Retief Goosen were on the projected cut of three-under-par, Padraig Harrington was two-under and world number 11 Phil Mickelson, the event's highest-ranked player, was one-over as play continued.
Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell looked to have just squeaked through to the weekend's play as he closed on par for the day and three-under 139 over two rounds.
There were no such worries for Morrison, who sizzled a 100-yard sand wedge to within three feet at the par-five 18th to complete a satisfying 48 hours at the event's par-71 twin courses after his first round of 62.
"It was absolutely perfect, looked like it was going to go in. But I'll take the four," Morrison said of the wedge shot, adding that he passed time during the long rain delay by playing a high-tech version of Scrabble.
"I sat and played 'Words for Friends' on my iPhone," he said. "I had a little look (at the leaderboard) and then back to my iPhone.
"When we got back out it was absolutely roasting. Standing on that fairway waiting to go it felt like it was about 50 degrees (122 Fahrenheit)."
Morrison lay two shots ahead of 33-year-old Filipino Juvic Pagunsan, who was even more surprised to be besting the star-studded field as he bids to add to his lone Asian Tour victory claimed in 2007.
"I'm just hanging in there," said Pagunsan, who has been working on his fitness by jogging and playing basketball.
"If you have physical fitness your mental game grows stronger because you don't need to worry about getting tired."
Joint overnight leader Edoardo Molinari shared second with Juvic as he started his round and Asia's only major winner Y.E. Yang, who was third on day one, was three shots off the lead after six holes.
Thailand's Thammanoon Sriroj, Prom Meesawat, Pariya Junhasavasdikul were all forced out with heat problems brought on by temperatures of up to 32 degrees Celsius at the joint Asian and European-sanctioned event.