Singapore ? Ernie Els overcame jet lag, searing tropical heat and distracting cell phones to take the second-round lead Friday in the Singapore Masters.

The South African star, coming off consecutive PGA Tour victories in Hawaii, completed the rain-delayed first round with a 3-under 69 and shot a 67 in the second for an 8-under 136 total.

The temperature hovered around 90 degrees, with relative humidity averaging 77.5 percent.

“You just keep grinding away and the heat gets to you after a little while, so I’ll go relax and hopefully get over the jet lag,” Els said.

With a huge gallery following him, Els complained about the number of cell phones that rang during play.

“They got some weird tunes over here,” he said. “We’re out here to play golf and we’re trying to take it quite seriously. It’s a problem wherever you go — the States, Europe. People like having cell phones with them and have it on.”

He swept the PGA Tour’s Hawaii events the last two weeks to become the first player since Steve Jones in 1989 to win the tour’s first two tournaments of the year.

“It’s a new week. Obviously, this week I have to deal with the jet lag,” he said. “But I’m striking the ball as well as I have been the last two weeks.”

Defending champion Arjun Atwal of India was a stroke back, along with countryman Jeev Milkha Singh and Scotland’s Simon Yates. Atwal shot a 70 in the second round. Singh shot a 71 in the second round, and Yates had a 69.