JOHN Bickerton braved treacherous weather at the Maybank Malaysian Open to finish in fourth place over the weekend.

The Droitwich professional golfer enjoyed his highest finish of the European Tour's new season so far with a 16-under-par score of 200.

The tournament at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club was cut from 72 holes (four days) to 54 holes (three days) because of a lightning storm.

This played into in-form Bickerton's hands.

In recent tournaments disappointing scores on the final day had overshadowed his good performances in the first three rounds.

Bickerton started the tournament strongly in Malaysia. A round of six-under-par 66 put him top of the leaderboard alongside Charlie Wi, Francesco Molinari, Gary Murphy and Richard Finch.

He slipped in the second round when he recorded a score of 68 to leave him ten-under-par after two days.

With thunder storms disrupting the tournament officials had no choice but to cut the tournament by a quarter.

Bickerton stepped up a gear in the third round and his score of 66 left him with 16-under-par.

Korea's Wi denied Thailand's Thonchai Jaidee's third victory in the tournament.

He started the third day three shots off the lead but an impressive nine-under-par 63 saw him move ahead of Jaidee and win the tournament.

He won 48,447 Euros in prize money for finishing in fourth place.

Success in Thailand made sure that Bickerton rocketed nearly 20 places up the Volvo Order of Merit to 26th.

Bickerton will be competing at the WGC Accenture Matchplay tournament at LaCosta Resort and Spa, which starts on today (Wednesday).