Golf
Ireland hold on to lead
2009-11-28 11:09
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Mission Hills - Ireland's powerful pairing of Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell will go into the final round of the World Cup with a one-stroke lead over Italy and Sweden after Saturday's fourballs.
The Irish, leading by three overnight, were unable to repeat their first-round heroics in front of sizeable galleries on the Mission Hills course in southern China, but their 64 put them at 26 under after 54 holes.
Italy's Franceso Molinari holed an 18-foot putt on the par-four 18th to close to within just one shot of McIlroy and McDowell, after a third round 61, before defending champions Sweden repeated the feat to draw level with Italy in joint second.
Ireland, who started the 5.5-million-dollar tournament with a 58 in the opening fourballs Thursday, were off to a strong start with a McDowell birdie at the second before McIlroy holed a 12-footer for a birdie at the third.
But they were unable to pull clear, with Italy's Molinari brothers finishing strongly after six birdies on the back nine after lying four shots off the pace overnight.
Edoardo Molinari, who defeated Sweden's Robert Karlsson in a play off to win the Dunlop Phoenix men's golf tournament last weekend, rolled in a 20-foot putt at the par-three 17th before his brother birdied the last.
Sweden, pairing Henrik Stenson with Karlsson, hit four birdies in five holes on the front nine but world number seven Stenson missed a six-foot putt for an eagle at the 15th.
Japan and South Africa lie a further six shots back on 19 under ahead of England and Wales, on 18 under.
Last year's runners-up Spain, led by world number eight Sergio Garcia, are on a total of nine under despite coming into the tournament as one of the favourites.
The Omega Mission Hills World Cup, taking place near Shenzhen, is a 72-hole event with each team comprising two players.
Scores on Saturday after the fourballs third round of the $5.5 million Omega World Cup:
190 - Ireland (Graeme McDowell/Rory McIlroy) 58-68-64
191 - Italy (Edoardo Molinari/Francesco Molinari) 64-66-61, Sweden (Robert Karlsson/Henrik Stenson) 64-65-62
197 - South Africa (Rory Sabbatini/Richard Sterne) 65-70-62, Japan (Hiroyuki Fujita/Ryuji Imada) 62-71-64
198 - England (Ian Poulter/Ross Fisher) 66-69-63, Wales (Stephen Dodd/Jamie Donaldson) 66-68-64
199 - Venezuela (Alfredo Adrian/Jhonattan Vegas) 67-67-65
200 - South Korea (Charlie Wi/Yang Young-Eun) 64-75-61, Australia (Stuart Appleby/Robert Allenby) 68-70-62), Argentina (Tano Goya/Rafael Echenique) 61-75-64, India (Jyoti Randhawa/Jeev Milkha Singh) 67-68-65
201 - Chile (Hugo Leon/Martin Ureta) 69-67-65
202 - Denmark (Soren Kjeldsen/Soren Hansen) 66-70-66, Singapore (Lam Chih Bing/Mardan Mamat) 66-70-66
203 - Canada (Graham Delaet/Stuart Anderson) 64-74-65, Germany (Alex Cejka/Martin Kaymer) 66-71-66
204 - Philippines (Marciano Pucay/Angelo Que) 68-72-64, Thailand (Prayad Marksaeng/Thongchai Jaidee) 67-70-67, China (Zhang Lianwei/Liang Wenchong) 65-71-68
205 - New Zealand (Danny Lee/David Smail) 67-68-70
206 - Scotland (David Drysdale/Alastair Forsyth) 69-73-64), USA (Nick Watney/John Merrick) 67-72-67
207 - France (Christian Cevaer/Thomas Levet) 67-73-67, Spain (Gonzalo Fernandez Castano/Sergio Garcia) 69-71-67
208 - Pakistan (Muhammad Munir/Muhammad Shabbir) 69-75-64), Taiwan (Lin Wen-tang/Lu Wei-chih) 67-74-67
211 - Brazil (Rafael Barcellos/Ronaldo Francisco) 68-75-68