Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell set the pace at the Mission Hills World Cup of Golf in second round
Aussie’s unilateral lead on their home turf is now under serious threat from the rampaging Irish duo Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy, who have now finished sharing the lead through the halfway mark of the Omega Mission Hills World Cup of Golf. Brendan Jones
and Richard Green, the overnight leaders of the Four-Ball, stepped on the heat on the second day, but were not good enough to outsmart the Irish duo. Both teams are now sharing the lead after culmination of the Four-Somes on the second day at the Mission Hills
Golf Course, Hainan, China.
“The important thing for us is that we are still at the top and everybody is chasing us,” said Jones in a self assuring tone. “We can't win the tournament today, but we sure could have fallen back in the field.”
McIlroy and McDowell, both close as kins, were the runners up last year where they failed to haul in the raging Italians Francesco Molinari and Edoardo Molinari. Pulling in a strong four-under, on the second day, both McIlroy and McDowell carded no fewer
than seven birdies and a glistening eagle at par-five, 6th to grab the lead.
“I think both of us are very pleased about the score that we ended up shooting today,” said World Number Two McIlroy. “There is still a lot of golf to be played this week, so it will be nice to get out there tomorrow again and enjoy the Four-Balls, and be
aggressive and make a few more birdies.”
The event has turned out to be a tightly contested one as some 20 teams are within the six shots from the lead. Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher and Martin Laird finished for an outright third, trailing the leaders by one shot followed by Spain, New Zealand
and United States poised for a joint fourth. Mexico and Colombia are still in contention for the top slot on the weekend.
The third round will again be a Four-Ball session after which the teams will finally move to fourth and final round of the event. Some 28 teams from all over the world are participating in the event.
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