From the Mission Hills Clubhouse the drive to the first tee on the Olazabal Course, the venue for the 2008 Omega Mission Hills World Cup, climbs a couple of hundred feet and winds through the forest for a kilometer or so.
This allows for a spectacular start to the front nine – a steepling downhill drive on the first, a similar descent on the par-3 second, and another downhill drive on the par-5 third. The roller coaster eases on the relatively flat fourth, to give the players time to catch their breath before the climbs and descents start again.
Jose-Marie Olazabal must have had a great time designing this opening to his course, but not as much fun as his countrymen Miguel Angel Jiminez and Pablo Arrazabal had in taking it apart in the second round of the competition. By the time they walked off the fourth green they were already four-under for the day, and they would go straight on to make another birdie on the par-3 fifth.
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High-fives from the Spaniards to celebrate Jiminez' eagle-putt on 3
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It was an extraordinary performance from Spain, and it is hard to find the superlatives to do it justice. A birdie on two was followed by an eagle on three – Jiminez split the fairway with his drive and Arrazabal arrowed a three-wood at the pin, leaving Jiminez with a straightforward putt for a three. On four the roles were reversed – this time it was Arrazabal from the tee, and Jiminez returned the compliment by dollying him up for birdie.
Foursomes is a notoriously difficult format for many golfers – sharing a ball with a partner in a sport that is notoriously individualistic, adjusting your game to his foibles while he tries similarly to accommodate yours, and only playing every second stroke, which limits the opportunities to iron out any glitches in your own game, mean that par is a decent score, and any team that nicks two or three strokes will consider they have done a good job.
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Larrazabal followed Jiminez' putt on 3 with one for a birdie himself on 4.
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Germany's 62 in the opening fourballs yesterday was a fine performance by any standards, but not an uncommon one in a format in which the best ball counts. Spain's 63 in the foursomes today – nine under par - was quite superb, particularly their front nine which they played in seven-under, and with seven holes to play the record low of 61, by Argentina in 2005, looked in danger.
Jiménez said: "We complemented very well today on the golf course and we had started with par on the first hole, then birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie; after five holes we are well under par. We really enjoyed the moment and keep playing very well, and make more birdies on the next par fives, on the seventh, ninth and 11th, and, well, that is the way. I thought at one moment that maybe we can break 60, the way we started. But when those kind of thoughts come at the wrong moment, we stopped the machine."
