The ISPS HANDA World Cup of Golf was on 59 watch today as
the Danish team of Søren Kjeldsen and Thorbjør Olesen lit up Kingston Heath.  Playing fourball, the Danish duo came close
with a bogey-free 12-under 60 featuring two eagles and eight birdies.

They now hold a three-shot lead heading into the weekend
with the field playing foursomes (alternate shot) in the third round.

"To be honest, I was thinking a little bit about that 59
with the last two holes to go, but 60 was still a great score. Søren got it
going by holing his second shot on the third, and then I chipped in for eagle
also. So combined, we were very good," said Olesen.

With Kjeldsen adding, "Thorbjørn was playing exceptional so
I thought if I get it in play and get it on the green, I could let him do all
the fireworks and it worked pretty well.

"In terms of temperament, I don’t think we’re that
different. But I think game-wise we’re very different.

"Thorbjørn’s very flashy, he hits it very far from the tee
and overall has got an amazing game; whereas I’m more like a train, I arrive on
time but without too much of the flashy stuff."

Sitting three shots off the lead is the Chinese team of Wu
Ashun and Li Haotong, they are hoping to secure China’s first World Cup of Golf
victory.

"When I started playing golf, I didn’t think I could get
into the World Cup one day, so it’s kind of like a dream come true. So it’s
very, very proud for me to be here," said Li.

"Everybody back home in China will be very focus on the
World Cup this week, so it’s great we are playing so well."

First-round leaders, Rafa Cabrera Bello and Jon Rahm didn’t
feel their best golf was on display, but still managed to
shoot 5-under 67 and be outright third on 8-under the card.

"I think today’s round wasn’t a great one, but it wasn’t a
bad one either. I felt that maybe we were a bit unlucky with the fact that we
both played great on the same holes, and played bad on the same holes as well.
So it was almost like we were just playing the one ball," said Cabrera Bello.

Rounding out the top-5 on the leaderboard is Team England;
Chris Wood and Andy Sullivan, Team Italy; Francesco Molinari and Matteo
Manassero, Team USA; Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker and Team France; Victor
Dubuisson and Romain Langasque.

The New Zealand pair of Danny Lee and Ryan Fox had a good
day on course firing 8-under 64 to be tied 10^th with two rounds to
play.

The low scoring day was made even more poignant with the New
Zealanders pledging to donate NZ$500 for every birdie they make to the Kaikoura earthquake fund. So far they have
raised NZ$6,500 with 10 birdies today and three yesterday.

Fox and Lee
are hoping to win New Zealand’s first World Cup of Golf title after the country
has recorded two runner-up results. 

"Obviously
we’d love to get our names on the trophy. 
I don’t think there’s been a New Zealand pair win it," added Fox, with a
cheeky comment alluding to the rivalry between Australia and New Zealand as
sporting nations.

"It’s always nice to get one up over on you guys, especially
on home soil, I’ll leave it at that."

Host nation Australia continued to be lacklustre in the
second round, their frustrations on course showing through.

"It’s just hard when you’re so used to landing it short on
certain holes and bouncing it up and then all of a sudden you’re landing it
short and it’s spinning backwards," said Leishman, with the pair combining for
a round of 4-under 68 to be 2-under the card and down the leaderboard in a tie
for 18th.

"I guess it’s a little frustrating in that respect, but
we’re professional golfers and we need to adjust to that sort of thing. 

"So we’ve had a few days on the course now and it’s been
soft every day. So hopefully we can get that under control, adjust the bounces
right and have a good really low couple of rounds."

The third round of the ISPS HANDA World Cup of Golf, which
will be played in the foursomes format, gets underway at 10.20am, with the last
group due out on course at 12.43am.