A superb display of foursomes golf by Miguel Angel Jimenez and Pablo Larrazabal sent Spain into a four-stroke lead at the end of the second round of the Omega Mission Hills World Cup today. The Irish pair of Graeme McDowell and Paul McGinley is six shots adrift, in a tie for fifth with the USA, after shooting six birdies and two bogeys for a 68.
The Spanish duo had completed yesterday's fourballs round at eight-under-par to leave them two shots behind overnight leaders Germany at the start of today's play.
However, Jimenez and 2008 European Tour Rookie of the Year Larrazabal flourished in the alternate shots format on a course designed by compatriot Jose Maria Olazabal to card a nine under 63, for a 17-under-par 127 total.
Australia and Germany are tied second at 13 under after carding 68 and 69 respectively while pre-tournament favourites Sweden also enjoyed a profitable round with a 67 and are a shot further behind at 12 under for the tournament.
Spain got off to a strong start as they picked up a birdie on the par-three second before Jimenez sank an eagle putt from 16 feet on the third and then picked up three more shots before the turn.
They continued their impressive form on the back nine with successive birdies from the 10th and though they bogeyed the par-five 15th, Spain immediately recovered when Larrazabal sank a long putt for birdie on the 16th.
"We complemented very well today on the golf course," said Jimenez. "We didn't have any mistakes, except at hole number 15 where we made a bogey.
"Apart from that we played well. We enjoyed ourselves and that is very important."
Germany's Martin Kaymer and Alex Cejka recovered from a relatively disappointing run heading out in which they saw two birdies cancelled out by two bogeys by picking up three shots coming home.
In contrast Australia made their move with a solid run on the front nine that yielded four birdies and without a shot dropped before coming home with two birdies against two bogeys while Sweden's Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson put themselves in contention with seven birdies and just two bogeys.
"We hit some really good shots and made some really good putts," said Stenson. "There is still a long way to go but hopefully we can reel Spain in."
Scotland's chances of staging a successful defence of the World Cup looked bleak as Colin Montgomerie and Alastair Forsyth signed for a one-over-par 73 today 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.
Tomorrow's third round returns to fourballs before switching back to foursomes for the final round on Sunday.
Collated scores
127Jimenez/Larrazabal Spain (Spa) 64 63
131Green/Jones Australia (Aus) 63 68, Cejka/Kaymer Germany (Ger) 62 69
132Stenson/Karlsson Sweden (Swe) 65 67
133Curtis/Snedeker United States (USA) 64 69, McDowell/McGinley Ireland (Irl) 65 68
134Imada/Taniguchi Japan (Jpn) 66 68
135DeLaet/Heffernan Canada (Can) 64 71
138Bae Sang-moon/KimHyung-tae Korea (Kor) 68 70
139Singh/Randhawa India (Ind) 67 72, Pucay/Que Phillipines (Phi) 67 72, Korhonen/Kakko Finland (Fin) 69 70
140Hansen A/Hansen S Denmark (Den) 65 75, Sabbatini/Sterne South Africa (Rsa) 70 70, Brown/Smail New Zealand (Nzl) 65 75, Cruz/Santos Portugal (Por) 67 73
141Montgomerie/Forsyth Scotland (Sco) 68 73
142Jaidee/Marksaeng Thailand (Tha) 69 73
143Havret/Bourdy France (Fra) 68 75, Aguilar/Tullo Chile (Chi) 67 76, De Leon/Serna Mexico (Mex) 66 77, Wen-Tang/Wen-teh Chinese Taipei (Tpe) 68 75, Poulter/Fisher England (Eng) 69 74, Molinari E/Molinari F Italy (Ita) 70 73
144Liang Wen-Chong/Zhang Lian-Wei China (Chn) 69 75
145Acuna/Villavicencio Guatemala (Gua) 69 76, Martinez/Sanz Venezuela (Ven) 71 74
146Dredge/Johnson Wales (Wal) 69 77
