Ireland extends its lead in the Mission Hills World Cup of Golf to the third day
Irish rampage continued on the third day Foursomes session of the Mission Hills World Cup of Golf in Hainan, China, where the duo Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy have now extended their second round lead into the third day. Earlier, they faced serious threats of the raging Germans when they surged to the top of the leaderboard carding a jaw-dropping 11 birdies in the day to clear the rest of the teams in the event. Led by the world number four Martin Kaymer from the front, he devoured the field on the third day alongside countryman Alex Cejka, but had to let go of it after blistering Irish display of stellar sport later in the day.
Cejka has battered a sickening allergy the whole year and wasn’t sure of playing at the event till the last moment.
“It was very tough until we figured out what the problem was. I would get extremely itchy and swollen. I would go to bed fine and then wake up with my eye swollen shut like I had been punched by Klitschko,” he said. “The time when we couldn’t figure out the problem was very scary. We went to several doctors in both Germany and in the United States.”
The German team moved from lows of joint tenth in the event to number two in a matter of 18-hole stretch on the third day and are all set to challenge the Irish team on the final day.
“Everybody knows they (McDowell and McIlroy) are world class players, but we are not too bad, either. It will be definitely interesting finish tomorrow,” Kaymer said.
Irish Team carded eight birdies in their bogey-free round on the third day and is still leading the event by three shots. McDowell and McIlroy were the runners up in last year’s event where they had to succumb to second spot against the raging Italian duo Edoardo Molinari and Francesco Molinari. This time around, they will be hoping to go all the way to the top in the 28-nation event.
Other surprising performers on the third day were the Team South Africa who also pulled in 11 birdies to push for contention and are now tied for the third position on the leaderboard.
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