Ireland added a five-under-par 67 for a halfway total of 131 when golf's World Cup switched to foursomes on the second day in Mexico yesterday.
After an opening 64, Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley are six shots off the pace set by Fiji on 19 under, with Canada on 18, Australia third on 17 under par and Scotland a shot further back.
Paul Lawrie and Alastair Forsyth charged into the early lead when they covered the front nine in a seven-under-par 29.
That meant they had played their last 18 holes in just 58 strokes and had raced from two under par and nearly last to 16 under and one in front of overnight pacesetters Canada.
Ten days ago Forsyth had no idea he would be playing at Vista Vallarta. Having put his clubs away for the winter, the 26-year-old was contacted to say that Andrew Oldcorn could not play because of a back injury and first reserve Andrew Coltart had turned down the chance because his wife, Emma, was expecting their second child.
And he also would not have been involved if Colin Montgomerie had not decided three months ago to skip the tournament.
It also ought to be remembered that until he won the Malaysian Open in February, Forsyth did not even hold a European Tour card, having failed to come through the qualifying school last November.
Lawrie, the British Open champion three years ago, got the ball rolling yesterday with a birdie at the 401-yard first. And while American stars Phil Mickelson and David Toms could do no better than pars throughout the outward nine and fell to 20th of the 24 nations, further birdies for the Scots came at the second and third and then the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth.
It might have been even better. From just short of the green at the long eighth Forsyth's 20-foot eagle attempt just missed.
But the Paisley golfer followed that with a 12-footer on the next to take them ahead of Canadians Mike Weir and Ian Leggatt, who after their 59 in the easier fourballs format resumed with further birdies at the first and third.
But while the Canadians added birdies at the seventh, eighth and 11th to regain the lead, the Scots slipped when they dropped their first shot at the 13th and parred in for a 65 and a total of 128. It left tied with England who shot up the leaderboard with a second round of 63 from Justin Rose and Paul Casey.
McGinley and Harrington, winners for Ireland in 1997, turned in 34 after birdies at the third, fifth and eighth, and then birdied the 10th, 12th and 13th to join Argentina, Switzerland and the Welsh pair Ian Woosnam and Bradley Dredge on 13 under par.
EARLY SECOND ROUND SCORES: 125 - Fiji 63 62; 128 - England (Justin Rose, Paul Casey) 65 63; 131 - Ireland (P Harrington, P McGinley) 64 67, Wales (I Woosnam, B Dredge) 63 68; 132 - US (Phil Mickelson, David Toms) 65 67 133 - Venezuela (Jamie Acevedo, Carlos Larrain) 66 67, Myanmar (Soe Kyaw Naing, Kyi Hla Han) 66 67 135 - Singapore (Mardan Mamat, Chih-bing Lam) 70 65, Colombia (Jesus Amaya, Rigoberto Velasquez) 66 69.
