2007 Omega Mission Hills World Cup - Round 2: Korea's shots speak for themselves

Korea 's Lee Sung and Lee Seung-ho may have problems communicating with each other but it hasn't stopped them from staying in contention at the Omega Mission Hills World Cup after Friday's foursomes.

Lee Sung, a winner on the Asian Tour, was born deaf and has to communicate with his partner through lip-reading. However, it did not stop the Lees from firing a superb three-under-par 69 in the alternate-shot format to lie just four strokes off the pace set by Americans Boo Weekley and Heath Slocum who lead on 14-under-par 130.

Seung-ho, 21, said he was relishing the challenges at Mission Hills Golf Club and was enjoying the company of Lee Sung, who is six years older. They shot a 65 in Thursday's fourball.

"He understands me a lot. I just need to look at him and talk to him and he understands me. It's good," said Seung-ho.

Lee Sung has pretty much let his clubs do all the talking, setting up birdie chances for Korea with crisp iron play on the third and fifth holes. He also rolled in a 20-foot birdie on the eighth.

Both players had to qualify for the Omega Mission Hills World Cup after Korea 's leading stars Choi Kyung-ju and Yang Yong-eun both declined an automatic slot through the world rankings. But the Lees were delighted to have the opportunity to take on the world in China .

Proudly displaying the Korean flag on their shirts, they are determined to keep the country's flag flying high in the weekend rounds.

"It was a pretty good score today as we didn't play that well," said Seung-ho, who has two runner-up finishes in Japan this year. "We were left and right from off the tee but luckily, we made some great saves.

"We hit some good bunker shots and had some good chips, we're happy. I think we'll have a chance to finish strong. This is first time we are playing on the golf course but after two rounds, we know it better now and we want to finish high."

China 's Zhang Lian-wei and Liang Wen-chong had the clubhouse buzzing with excitement after charging into a share of the lead by brilliantly turning in 32. But a triple bogey seven on the 12 th hole knocked them off their stride as they settled for a 71 and a share of 12 th place on 136, six off the lead.

"We had an up and down round. We had a really good start, four under on the front nine was a very good start for foursomes but unfortunately I pushed my tee shot all the way to the left (on 12) and it ended up being a triple bogey," said Zhang.

Liang, currently leading the Asian Tour's UBS Order of Merit, chose to look on the bright side. "Instead of looking at triple bogey, I would rather say that we had six birdies today, which I consider as a very good round.

"I would say number 12 was an exciting mistake and we'll try our best to avoid this kind of mistake on the final day. But overall, I think we played a really good round," said Liang, who contributed to the big number with a ‘shank' on the team's fourth shot from the greenside bunker.

But as the senior team member, the 42-year-old Zhang pushed Liang on after their mishap as they fired two more birdies against as many bogeys. "We were telling each other, ‘hey, we still have a lot of golf to play. We've got to go for it, buddy' after that disaster," said Zhang

As they are carrying the hopes of the world's most populous nation, Zhang revealed that his hands were trembling when he stood over his birdie putt on the 18 th hole after Liang had knocked a superb approach to three feet.

"The birdie on 18 was one of the best. Liang hit a very good shot and left me with a three footer for birdie and I was kind of shaking because I know I've got to make the putt. I didn't waste a great shot that came from Liang," he said.

Thailand 's Thongchai Jaidee and Prayad Marksaeng endured a frustrating day with a 76 to slip back to tied 19 th place in the 28-nation competition while India 's Gaurav Ghei and Jyoti Randhawa carded a 75 for joint 23 rd place alongside Filipinos Tony Lascuna and Gerald Rosales, who combined for a 73.

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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