Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell were never going to replicate their stunning fourball 58 from the first round at Mission Hills this morning but they did maintain their three-shot World Cup lead with a 68 in the foursomes, though the make-up of the chasing pack has changed somewhat.
Argentina looked the nearest threat yesterday but imploded late on today and Sweden's Henrik Stenson and Robert Karlsson now stalk the Irish pair after a bogey-free seven-under-par 65 put them firmly in contention.
The defending champions would have been six adrift, however, had the two Northern Irishmen not dropped three shots on the back nine.
“We started out the day with a three-shot lead and we still have a three-shot lead, it was a good day,” said world number 10 McIlroy. “This format is a lot trickier than the fourball, you have to rely on your partner to get you out of trouble, while you have to take responsibility in the fourball.”
After setting the course alight yesterday with a flawless first round of 14-under-par, Ireland were steaming towards a substantial lead with McIlroy’s tap in eagle at the seventh the highlight of a solid front nine.
But the back nine was much more of a battle as a first bogey of the week arrived at 11 following McIlroy’s wayward tee shot.
The loss was quickly regained two holes later, but after McDowell hit his approach to the tricky 15th into the water, McIlroy eventually missed a two-foot uphill putt as Ireland shipped a double bogey just as Sweden and Italy reeled off a glut of birdies to charge up the leaderboard and slash the advantage.
As Sweden capped off their impressive error-free round, McDowell rolled home at 16 to stretch the lead to two before holing from 20 feet a hole later to quickly regain the lost shots.
“I think we would have taken 68 on the first tee,” added McIlroy. “We had a goal which was to get a bit lower than that, but we played pretty solid and apart from the couple of mistakes on the back nine, we could have got a better score.
“I think we really showed good character to come back with the two birdies on 16 and 17 after the double bogey, it was a good days work.”
Italian brothers Francesco and Edoardo Molinari sit third a further shot off the pace after a 66 with Japan’s Hiroyuki Fujita and Ryuji Imada (71) fourth at 11 under and Wales (68) and Venezuela (67) a further shot adrift.
“We played well yesterday but didn’t really put the score together, but I definitely felt like we played a lot better yesterday than we did last year,” said Karlsson.
“So at the end of the day it was a little bit frustrating with a 64, but I knew that the game was there to put a good score together today, and we did, so that’s very, very encouraging.”
Sweden took over the chase from Tano Goya and Rafa Echenique of Argentina, who followed yesterday's 61 with a 75, thanks to five dropped shots on the way back in.
England’s Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher sit tied for ninth alongside South Africa, India and New Zealand after a 70 but are nine shots off the pace with Martin Kaymer’s Germany (71) a further two back and a Sergio Garcia led Spain (71) languishing at four under par ahead of only Scotland, Brazil and Pakistan.
Collated scores after round two at Mission Hills
126 Rory McIlroy & Graeme McDowell (Irl) 58 68
129Henrik Stenson & Robert Karlsson (Swe) 64 65
130Edoardo Molinari & Francesco Molinari (Ita) 64 66
133Ryuji Imada & Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn) 62 71
134Stephen Dodd & Jamie Donaldson (Wal) 66 68, Jhonattan Vegas & Alfredo Adrian (Ven) 67 67
135Rory Sabbatini & Richard Sterne (Rsa) 65 70, Jeev Milkha Singh & Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 67 68, David Smail & Danny Lee (Nzl) 67 68, Ian Poulter & Ross Fisher (Eng) 66 69
136Liang Wen-Chong & Zhang Lian-Wei (Chn) 65 71, Lam Chih-bing & Mardan Mamat (Sin) 66 70, Soren Hansen & Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 66 70, Martin Ureta & Hugo Leon (Chi) 69 67, Tano Goya & Rafa Echenique (Arg) 61 75
137Alex Cejka & Martin Kaymer (Ger) 66 71, Thongchai Jaidee & Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 67 70
138Robert Allenby & Stuart Appleby (Aus) 68 70, Graham Delaet & Stuart Anderson (Can) 64 74
139Nick Watney & John Merrick (USA) 67 72, Charlie Wi & Yong-eun Yang (Kor) 64 75
140Sergio Garcia & Gonzalo Fdz-Castano (Spa) 69 71, Angelo Que & Mars Pucay (Phi) 68 72, Thomas Levet & Christian Cevaer (Fra) 67 73
141Lin Wen-Tang & Lu Wei-Chih (Tpe) 67 74
142David Drysdale & Alastair Forsyt (Sco) 69 73
143Rafael Barcellos & Ronaldo Franc (Bra) 68 75
144Muhammad Munir & Muhammad Shabbi (Pak) 69 75
