2007 Omega Mission Hills World Cup - Round 2: US stay one ahead of England and Scotland

American Boo Weekley and Heath Slocum retained their overnight lead in the Omega Mission Hills World Cup after combining for a three-under-par 69 in Friday’s foursomes.

They lead by a stroke from England’s Justin Rose and Ian Poulter and Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie and Marc Warren, who shot matching 68s in the tougher alternate shot format at Mission Hills Golf Club’s Olazabal Course.

South Africa, represented by Retief Goosen and Trevor Immelman, are fourth in the US$5 million team event after a 69 left them two off the pace going into the weekend rounds.

"I think we played pretty solid today. Obviously we made a couple mistakes, made a couple bogeys. But other than that, I think we played pretty solid. This is a hard format to play, anyway, to keep a rhythm, and I think we did a good job today," said Slocum.

A birdie on the opening hole, courtesy of an approach to 10 feet from Slocum which Weekley converted, set the Americans on their way. They dropped a shot on the fourth but picked up birdies on the par five seventh and ninth holes.

Two more birdies on the 11th and 15th, both par fives, against a second bogey on 12 saw the Americans end the day one ahead.

Weekley said: "I thought we played solid today under the conditions. We weren’t hitting it our best and sure wasn't putting it our best. But other than that, I mean, what we did kept us in front."

While some of the teams have worn matching strips and coordinated outfits to reflect the team competition, Slocum and Weekley, who are childhood friends, have maintained their individual tastes, except for their matching belts.

"They had them made for us by a belt company in Atlanta, House of Fleming. They made the belt for us, and just inscribed with both our names. So just red, white and blue with a USA belt buckle, really nice," said Slocum.

"I think we both like wearing our own things," said Weekley. "We've got the belts, they match."

Second round scores (click here for leaderboard):

130: USA (Boo Weekley/Heath Slocum) 61-69
131: England (Justin Rose/Ian Poulter) 63-68, Scotland (Colin Montgomerie/Marc Warren) 63-68
132: South Africa (Retief Goosen/Trevor Immelman) 63-69
133: Denmark (Anders Hansen/Soren Hansen) 65-68, Italy (Edoardo Molinari/Francesco Molinari) 65-68, Germany (Martin Kaymer/Alex Cejka) 62-71
134: Holland (Robert-Jan Derksen/Maarten Lafeber) 65-69, Korea (Lee Sung/Lee Seung-ho) 65-69
135: Argentina (Andres Romero/Ricardo Gonzales) 65-70, France (Raphael Jacquelin/Gregory Havret) 64-71
136: Sweden (Robert Karlsson/Peter Hanson) 66-70, China (Liang Wen-chong/Zhang Lian-wei) 65-71
137: Finland (Mikko Ilonen/Pasi Purhonen) 63-74
138: Spain (Miguel Angel Jimenez/Jose Manuel Lara) 67-71, Australia (Nick O'Hern/Nathan Green) 66-72, Ireland (Michael Hoey/Gareth Maybin) 66-72, Canada (Mike Weir/Wes Heffernan) 66-72
139: Paraguay (Carlos Franco/Fabrizio Zanotti) 66-73, Austria (Markus Brier/Claude Grenier) 64-75, Thailand (Thongchai Jaidee/Prayad Marksaeng) 63-76, Wales (Bradley Dredge/Stephen Dodd) 63-76
140: Japan (Hideto Tanihara/Tetsuji Hiratsuka ) 67-73, Philippines (Gerald Rosales/Tony Lascuna) 67-73, India (Jyoti Randhawa/Gaurav Ghei) 65-75
141: Puerto Rico (Miguel Suarez/Wilfredo Morales) 68-73
144: New Zealand (Stephen Scahill/Richard Lee) 67-77
147: Colombia (Jorge Benedetti/Gustavo Mendoza) 68-79

Note: The first and third rounds will use the fourball (better ball) format while the second and final rounds will use the foursomes (alternate shot) format.

November 23, 2007

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