Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez and 2008 European Tour Rookie of the Year Pablo Larrazabal had some glistening performance and took a three-stroke lead on top of the Omega Mission Hills Golf World Cup scoreboard after the second round on Friday.
World No. 20 Jimenez and Larrazabal surged to clinch eight birdies and a 3rd-hole eagle to seal leardership with 17 under. The pair got a 8-under 64 in the first round of fourballs format, and made the foursomes seemed to be easier than the other by 9-under 63.
"We complemented very well today on the golf course and we had started par on the first hole, birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie; after five holes we are under par. We really enjoyed the moment and keep playing very well, and make more birdies on the next par 5s," said Jimenez.
"We didn't have any mistake, except for the hole No. 15, that we made a bogey there. Myself, maybe I wanted to be a little bit too greedy and missed the shot."
Second place is held by Australia's Richard Green and Brendan Jones and Germany's overnight leaders Martin Kaymer and Alex Cejka, both at 13 under. Pre-tournament favorite Sweden ranked the fourth at 12 under.
The Chinese duo Zhang Lianwei ang Liang Wenchong didn't improve after the mediocre day one and had a worse second round without a single birdie and made a three-over-par 75, which made them sit at the bottom area at par (144).
"This is the worst round that we've played as a team in the past six to seven years. I'm really disappointed. We're going to go back to the range and find something in our games," said Zhang Lianwei.
"In the last two days, we didn't have the fire on the golf course. There wasn't any spirit and we need to find something to play better in the weekend."
"I'm very disappointed that we didn't make any birdies. We started with a bogey on the first hole. We didn't take advantage of the par fives. My chipping wasn't the best as well," said Liang Wenchong.
(Xinhua News Agency November 28, 2008)