A superstitious Tiger Woods abandoned his goatee hoping for a change of luck - but instead fell further off the pace in the EMC World Cup in Japan.

Woods and American team-mate David Duval began the second round four shots off the lead after the opening fourballs, but looked set to close the gap after a 68 in the foursomes at the Taiheiyo course in Gotemba.

That was until the New Zealand team of Michael Campbell and David Smail carded a superb, error-free 66 for a 15-under-par total of 129 at the halfway stage.

The Kiwis led by four shots from Scotland and Japan, with the United States, Denmark and Spain one shot further back.

Ireland's Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley have a lot of work to do to catch the leaders after a somewhat disappointing 72 left them seven shots off the leaders, who they were paired with yesterday.

"It was a bit of a struggle, especially early on when we bogeyed the two par fives on the front nine and after 12 holes we would have been very happy with level par," admitted Harrington, who beat McGinley to the Volvo Masters title in Jerez last week.

"But when we birdied 13 and 14 we nearly birdied the last four, so it was a bit disappointing. We never really got going on the front nine, but the back nine was fine and we created a lot of chances. It's a tough foursomes course, there seemed to be a lot of breaks between hitting shots.

"But we are only three behind second place. If New Zealand play well the next two days it's their tournament, but realistically you've got to think they might stand still and we might have a chance to catch them."

Asked about his close shave, Woods said: "The reason why I shaved is because I played so poorly yesterday. I was trying to change it up, whatever you need to do to change the flow."

Seven birdies was the result, but three bogeys as well left Woods and Duval dissatisfied with their day's work.

"We played fairly well and were close to playing really well and that's hard to swallow," Duval said. "It's a little disappointing walking off having shot just four under but there are two days to go."

Scotland again led the home nations' challenge despite a disappointing finish when the team of Andrew Coltart and Dean Robertson bogeyed the last.

After a level-par front nine and a birdie on the 11th, the Scots bogeyed the 13th and 14th to fall six shots behind the New Zealanders.

But while Campbell and Smail were unable to pick up any more shots after a hat-trick of birdies from the 10th, the Scots rallied superbly with a hat-trick of their own from the 15th, only to then bogey the final hole.

Robertson's pulled tee-shot meant they could not reach the green in two and after Coltart's birdie putt on the 517-yard par five rolled three feet past, Robertson missed the return.

That dropped them back to 11-under-par, still good enough for a share of second along with Japan's Toshimitsu Izawa and Shigeki Maruyama, but four shots behind the New Zealanders.

"It was a great team effort, all Kiwis seem to play well in teams, just look at the All Blacks," Campbell said. "It's one of the things we do well.

"David and I know each other's games quite well, I've known him since we were juniors and we get on well. I think as a team it's very important to have an extra edge to get on with your partner and David and I are very good friends and combine very well."

SECOND ROUND - FOURSOMES

129 - New Zealand (M Campbell, D Smail) 63 66

133 - Japan (T Izawa, S Katayama) 64 69, Scotland (D Robertson, A Coltart) 62 71

134 - United States (T Woods, D Duval) 66 68, Denmark (T Bjorn, S Hansen) 65 69, Spain (S Garcia, MA Jimenez) 63 71

135 - Argentina (A Cabrera, E Romero) 67 68, France (T Levet, R Jacquelin) 67 68, Fiji (V Singh, D Chand) 66 69, South Africa (E Els, R Goosen) 66 71, Canada (M Weir, I Leggatt) 62 73, Sweden (N Fasth, R Karlsson) 62 73

136 - China (L-W Zhang, W-C Chong) 67 69, Australia (A Scott, A Baddeley) 66 70, Ireland (P Harrington, P McGinley) 64 72

137 - Mexico (O Gonzalez, A Quiroz) 66 71, Wales (P Price, M Mouland) 66 71, England (I Poulter, P Casey) 65 72

139 - Norway (P Haugsrud, H Bjornstad) 67 72

140 - Paraguay (C Franco, A Franco) 68 72, Zimbabwe (T Johnstone, M McNulty) 66 74

142 - Holland (M Lafeber, RJ Derksen) 70 72, Phillippines (R Cuello, D Zarate) 67 75

146 - Malaysia (D Chia, P Gunasegaran) 66 80