Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez and Pablo Larrazabal stormed to a four-shot lead at the 54th World Cup of Golf after carding a remarkable nine-under-par 63 in the second round on Friday. Playing the more difficult foursomes format, evergreen Jimenez and his European Rookie of the Year partner scored like it was fourballs, scooping eight birdies and an eagle with just one bogey to move to 17 under for the $5.5 million tournament. “I think at one moment that maybe we could break 60 the way we started,” world number 20 Jimenez told reporters. “We played very well. We complemented each other very well and enjoyed ourselves on the golf course, and that's very important.” Australians Richard Green and Brendan Jones also gelled well on the first day of alternate shot play, but will rue a bogey at the last which left them with a 68 and a share of second place with overnight leader Germany. The German pairing of Alex Cejka and Martin Kaymer had a couple of early bogeys to drop down the leaderboard but rallied with three birdies on a flawless back nine to stay in the hunt with a 69. Swedes Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson, the highest ranked players in the 28-team field, were also reasonably well placed at the halfway stage after a 67 left them in fourth, five shots off the pace. Ireland and the United States shared fifth on 11 under but the day belonged to Jimenez and Larrazabal, who are looking to win a fifth World Cup for their country. After parring the first hole, the 44-year-old Jimenez sank successive 16-foot putts for a birdie and an eagle three and when Larrazabal got into the act with a birdie putt of his own at the next, they were five-under through five holes. Clearly having a great time on a layout designed by compatriot Jose Maria Olazabal, they celebrated with high fives after picking up three more shots before the 11th and an extraordinary score looked to be on the cards. They then stalled a little and went into reverse when Jimenez chipped up a hill to the 15th green only for ball to stop and then roll back down past him. “Maybe I wanted to be a little bit too greedy and missed the shot,” said Jimenez. That resulted in their first, and only, dropped shot of the day, but Larrazabal got them straight back to 17 under by draining a 40-foot birdie putt at the 16th. “That's a great round for foursomes,” said Larrazabal, who only managed a 64 with Jimenez in the first-round fourballs. Play returns to fourballs for Saturday's third round with another round of foursomes completing the tournament on Sunday. __
