GOLF WORLD CUP:MIGUEL ANGEL Jimenez lavished praise upon compatriot Pablo Larrazabal after the duo shot Spain into the halfway lead at the World Cup in Mission Hills in China yesterday.
Jimenez and Larrazabal appeared to provide the perfect foil for each other in foursomes as they produced an almost perfect performance in the second round in Shenzhen to open up a four-stroke lead over Australia and Germany.
Richard Green and Brendan Jones gelled well on the first day of alternate shot play, but will rue a bogey at the last which left them with a 68.
"It was a tough game today," Green said. "Foursomes is not the easiest to play."
That made Spain's round even more impressive.
"The Spanish team today was just amazing," Jones said. "It is hard to keep your swing in check because you are only swinging every second shot. So sometimes you putt, putt, putt, putt."
Pre-tournament favourites Sweden improved on their fourballs performance as Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson, the highest ranked players in the 28-team field, carded a 67 and lie in fourth place at 12 under, while Ireland remain in contention a shot further behind alongside the United States.
Ben Curtis and Brandt Snedeker got themselves back in the tournament with birdies on the last four holes. "It was a great way to finish, otherwise it could have been an ugly day and it wasn't," Snedeker said. "We have a chance going into the weekend."
The Irish pairing of Paul McGinley and Graeme McDowell were satisfied overall with their showing. "Four-under is a good day in foursomes," said McGinley, who combined with his younger partner for a 68 yesterday. "Spain have got out in front but we are right there and are in with a shout. We are going to have to play well again on the weekend."
Having started the day two shots off the pace, Jimenez and Larrazabal carded a nine-under-par 63 on the Olazabal course for a 17-under 127 total as Spain chase a fifth World Cup victory. They last won in 1984 with Jose Maria Canizares and Jose Rivero.
Scotland's chances of staging a successful defence of the World Cup look bleak as Colin Montgomerie and Alastair Forsyth signed for a one-over-par 73 that leaves them 14 shots off the pace.
England's Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher combined for a 74 and are one-under-par overall, while Bradley Dredge and Richard Johnson stuttered to a five over 77 that leaves Wales propping up the leaderboard.
With play returning to fourballs in today's third round, Spain could conceivably see their four-stroke lead quickly diminish. Another round of foursomes will complete the tournament tomorrow.
Second round scores
(Chn unless stated, par 72):
127- Spain (Jimenez and Larrazabal) 64 63.
131- Australia (Green and Jones) 63 68; Germany (Cejka and Kaymer) 62 69.
132- Sweden (Stenson and Karlsson) 65 67
133- USA (Curtis and Snedeker) 64 69; Ireland (McDowell and McGinley) 65 68.
134- Japan (Imada and Taniguchi) 66 68.
135- Canada (DeLaet and Heffernan) 64 71
138- Korea (Bae Sang-moon and KimHyung-tae) 68 70
139- India (Singh and Randhawa) 67 72; Phillipines (Pucay and Que Phillipines) 67 72; Finland - Korhonen and Kakko ) 69 70
140- Denmark (A Hansen A and S Hansen) 65 75; South Africa (Sabbatini and Sterne) 70 70; New Zealand (Brown and Smail 65 75; Portugal (Cruz and Santos 67 73.
141- Scotland (Montgomerie and Forsyth) 68 73.
142- Thailand (Jaidee and Marksaeng) 69 73.
143- France (Havret and Bourdy) 68 75; Chile (Aguilar and Tullo) 67 76; Mexico (De Leon and Serna) 66 77; Chinese Taipei (Wen-Tang and Wen-teh). 68 75; England (Poulter and Fisher) 69 74; Italy (E and F Molinari) 70 73
144- China (Liang Wen-Chong and Zhang Lian-Wei) 69 75.
145- Guatemala (Acuna and Villavicencio) 69 76; Venezuela ( Martinez, Sanz) 71 74.
146- Wales (Dredge and Johnson) 69 77.
