Date: November 28, 2008
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Australian duo tied for second

Australian duo Richard Green and Brendan Jones are tied for second place at the end of the second round of the Omega Mission Hills World Cup. Australia and Germany are tied for second at 13-under after carding 68 and 69 respectively, but it was a superb display of foursomes golf by Miguel Angel Jimenez and Pablo Larrazabal that sent Spain into a four-stroke lead. Jimenez and 2008 European Tour Rookie of the Year Larrazabal flourished in the alternate shots format on a course designed by compatriot Jose Maria Olazabal to card a nine-under 63, for a 17-under-par 127 total. But the Australian duo of Green and Jones played well and were more than happy with their day&aposs work. “Foursomes is not the easiest game to play,” Green said. “Both Brendan and I put a pretty good score on the board, considering it&aposs a difficult game. I think if you can do that, in this format, you&aposre a pretty strong team. So I like our prospects for the weekend and hopefully continue our form from the fourball and regroup for the foursomes again on Sunday.” Green said a four-shot buffer was nothing in this format and he and Jones are well placed to challenge for the title. “We might be four behind Spain, but with this format, anything can happen and it&aposs not that far away,” Green said. “I&aposm looking forward to tomorrow and getting back into a rhythm again. I think we&aposll do well.” Spain got off to a strong start as they picked up a birdie on the par-three second before Jimenez sank an eagle putt from 16-feet on the third and then picked up three more shots before the turn. They continued their impressive form on the back nine with successive birdies from the 10th and though they bogeyed the par-five 15th, Spain immediately recovered when Larrazabal sank a long putt for birdie on the 16th. “We complemented very well today on the golf course,” said Jimenez. “We didn&apost have any mistakes, except at hole number 15 where we made a bogey.” “Apart from that we played well. We enjoyed ourselves and that is very important.” Germany&aposs Martin Kaymer and Alex Cejka recovered from a relatively disappointing run heading out in which they saw two birdies cancelled out by two bogeys by picking up three shots coming home. In contrast Australia made their move with a solid run on the front nine that yielded four birdies and without a shot dropped before coming home with two birdies against two bogeys while Sweden&aposs Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson put themselves in contention with seven birdies and just two bogeys. “We hit some really good shots and made some really good putts,” said Stenson. “There is still a long way to go but hopefully we can reel Spain in.” The United States are tied in fifth at 11-under alongside Ireland, whose Graeme McDowell and Paul McGinley shot six birdies against two bogeys today. Scotland&aposs chances of staging a successful defence of the World Cup looked bleak as Colin Montgomerie and Alastair Forsyth signed for a one-over-par 73 today that leaves them 14 shots off the pace. England&aposs Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher combined for a 74 and are one-under-par overall while Bradley Dredge and Richard Johnson stuttered to a five over 77 that leaves Wales propping up the leaderboard. Second round scores: 127: Spain (Miguel Angel Jimenez, Pablo Larrazabal) 64-63 131: Germany (Martin Kaymer, Alex Cejka) 62-69, Australia (Richard Green, Brendan Jones) 63-68 132: Sweden (Henrik Stenson, Robert Karlsson) 65-67 133: Ireland (Graeme McDowell, Paul McGinley) 65-68, USA (Ben Curtis, Brandt Snedeker) 64-69 134: Japan (Ryuji Imada, Toru Taniguchi) 66-68 135: Canada (Graham Delaet, Wes Heffernan) 64-71 138: Korea (Bae Sang-moon, Kim Hyung-tae) 68-70 139: Finland (Roope Kakko, Mikko Korhonen) 69-70, Philippines (Angelo Que, Mars Pucay) 67-72, India (Jeev Mikha Singh, Jyoti Randhawa) 67-72 140: South Africa (Rory Sabbatini, Richard Sterne) 70-70, Portugal (Tiago Cruz, Ricardo Santos) 67-73, Denmark (Soren Hansen, Anders Hansen) 65-75, New Zealand (Mark Brown, David Smail) 65-75 141: Scotland (Alastair Forsyth, Colin Montgomerie) 68-73 142: Thailand (Prayad Marksaeng, Thongchai Jaidee) 69-73 143: Italy (Francesco Molinari, Edoardo Molinari) 70-73, England (Ian Poulter, Ross Fisher) 69-74, Chinese Taipei (Lin Wen-tang, Lu Wen-teh) 68-75, France (Gregory Havret , Gregory Bourdy) 68-75, Chile (Felipe Aguilar, Mark Tullo) 67-76, Mexico (Daniel De Leon, Osca Serna) 66-77 144: China (Liang Wen-chong, Zhang Lian-wei) 69-75 145: Venezuela (Miguel Martinez, Rual Sanz) 71-74, Guatemala (Pablo Acuna, Alejandro Villavicencio) 69-76 146: Wales (Bradley Dredge, Richard Johnson) 69-77