Canada Slips to Eighth In World Cup Of Golf

Miguel Angel Jimenez and Pablo Larrazabal lifted Spain into a four-shot lead by shooting a surprising 9-under 63 Friday, putting Spain at 127 through 36 holes. Australia (68) and Germany (69) are in second place while Sweden (67) is five back.

Canada's Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Saskatchew and Wes Heffernan of Calgary, Alberta posted a team score of 71 for a 36-hole total of 135.

"That's a great round for foursomes, but tomorrow (Saturday) will be another day," said 25-year-old Larrazabal of Spain, the 2008 European tour rookie of the year.

"Foursomes, you know -- it's the kind of thing that is very sensitive," said his partner, Jimenez. "You need to be nice and not competitive with you partner. That is what happened today. He hit it very nice from the tee, I put it in close and he holed the putt and vice versa."

For Canada, it was an up and down day.

"Today was almost like two rounds," said Wes Heffernan. "I played well for 11 holes but struggled coming in. Graham played well and we were four under through 11 but then we made a triple at No. 12.

"We got a nice bounce back when we birdied 13 and I felt like we got back in control.

"However, when we got to No. 15, I made a clubbing error on my approach shot. I hit a 6 iron that I thought would jump out of the Bermuda rough. I should have hit a five and it ended up in the water.

"Sometimes those errors are the hardest to take. You execute the shot the way you envision and it is the wrong club and leads to a bogey. It's frustrating because you hate to lose shots when you feel like you hit the right one and it doesn't turn out that way. Club selection is something you can control."

"We started off really well today," said DeLaet. We birdied the 3 par 5's on the front 9 and then the par 5 11th and got it to four under. At 12, I hit a loose shot from 210 yards from the fairway into a hazard.

"After a drop, an approach, and a 3 putt, we quickly fell from four to one under.

"We then found a little trouble on 15 when we misjudged a lie in the rough along with the wind and put another ball in the hazard.

"I feel somewhat responsible for the water ball since I talked Wes out of a 5 iron to hit a 6 that just fell short in the water.

"We closed with two pretty solid pars for a round of 71 that really felt much better than that. We played well as a team all day, and would be right in the hunt if it wasn't for two bad holes.

"However, we are in the top 10 at the halfway point, and both feel we are playing well enough to improve on that throughout the weekend."

Spain's sensational round should give the Spanish a strong chance to win this event, which usually goes to the team that plays best in foursomes, where scores are typically higher. Saturday returns to fourball with foursomes planned for Sunday's final round.

The Spanish picked up seven strokes on the front nine with five birdies and an eagle. They were 8-under after 10 holes and 9-under after 11. Jimenez had the hot hand early, making a 15-foot birdie on No. 2, and a 17-footer for eagle on No. 3.

"I mean, great start," Larrazabal said.

Spain dropped its first shot on 15, falling back to 8-under for the day.

However, the Spanish recovered on 16, moving back to 9-under when Larrazabal dropped a 40-foot birdie putt. On , Larrazabal missed an 8-foot putt for birdie that would have brought Spain to 10 under.

The record in foursomes in the World Cup is 10-under 61 by Argentina in 2005.

Jimenez and Larrazabal seemed relaxed throughout the round, with Jimenez at times smoking his trademark cigar.

Spain has won the event four times, twice in 1976 and '77 with Seve Ballesteros. Spain last won in 1984 with Jose Maria Canizares and Jose Rivero.

It's been a great year for Spain. Its football team won the European championship and in tennis Spain just won the Davis Cup -- without the world's No. 1 player Rafael Nadal.

In the World Cup, Spain is playing without No. 2-ranked Sergio Garcia, who elected not to play.

The German team of Martin Kaymer and Alex Cejka -- leaders at 10-under after the first round -- managed a 69 with three birdies on the back nine.

"We were just trying to survive today and not to lose too much ground," Cejka said.

It was the same for Australians Richard Green and Brendan Jones.

"It was a tough game today," Green said. "Foursomes is not the easiest to play."

That made Spain's round even more impressive.

"The Spanish team today was just amazing," Jones said. "It is hard to keep your swing in check because you are only swinging every second shot. So sometimes you putt, putt, putt, putt."

Americans Ben Curtis and Brandt Snedeker got themselves back in the tournament with birdies on the last four holes.

"It was a great way to finish, otherwise it could have been an ugly day and it wasn't," Snedeker said. "We have a chance going into the weekend."

World Cup of Golf
Mission Hills, Shenzhen, China
Par 72

1 Spain 64 63 -- 127
T2 Germany 62 69 -- 131
T2 Australia 63 68 -- 131
4 Sweden -12 65 67 -- 132
T5 USA 64 69 -- 133
T5 Ireland 65 68 -- 133
7 Japan 66 68 -- 134
8 Canada 64 71 -- 135
9 Korea 68 70 -- 138
T10 Philippines 67 72 -- 139
T10 India 67 72 -- 139
T10 Finland 69 70 -- 139
T13 Denmark 65 75 -- 140
T13 New Zealand 65 75 -- 140
T13 Portugal 67 73 -- 140
T13 South Africa 70 70 -- 140
17 Scotland 68 73 -- 141
18 Thailand 69 73 -- 142
T19 Mexico 66 77 -- 143
T19 Chile 67 76 -- 143
T19 Chinese Taipei 68 75 -- 143
T19 France 68 75 -- 143
T19 England 69 74 -- 143
T19 Italy 70 73 -- 143
25 China 69 75 -- 144
T26 Guatemala 69 76 -- 145
T26 Venezuela 71 74 -- 145
T28 Wales 69 77 -- 146