Australia pair Richard Green and Brendan Jones made the title race full of suspense after levelling front-runners Spain on top of the leader board at 22 under 194 after the third round four balls at the Omega Mission Hills Golf World Cup on Saturday.
Jones's 18th hole birdie finished the Aussies' beautiful day, in which they made eight birdies and an eagle at the difficult 15th to get a 9-under 63.
Jones said:"I missed a little putt on the last hole yesterday, and I had the same sort of length putt today. I made up for it today. We feel a lot better now walking off the golf course with a birdie, as opposed to a bogey. It's a solid round of golf and we are right where we want to be."
Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez and Pablo Larrazabal, who took a four-stroke lead after two rounds, slowed their paces after a mistake-flooded round. They laboured out a 5-under 67 and had to share the lead with the Australians.
"We had not as good of a round as the first round, more mistakes today," said Larrazabal.
"We made a lot of mistakes. On 15, the par 5, we dropped a shot, and in this format, that's like killing yourself," said Jimenez
Spain had a fantastic second round foursomes (alternate shot) match, in which they surged to make a 9-under and went on top of the tally. The final foursomes seemed to gave them much confidence.
"But, we are still leading. So we know if we are playing like yesterday, we are going to win the tournament," said Larrazabal.
"We hope tomorrow to keep on the same level of the game that we have as yesterday and before yesterday and keep in contention," echoed Jimenez.
"Spain had an exceptional round of golf in that format on Friday," said Green as he looked ahead to the final round. "But I guess in regards to Spain replicating that round of golf tomorrow, I personally doubt it. I think it's going to be a little bit tougher tomorrow, obviously a lot more pressure to win the tournament, and I think a good score tomorrow is going to be anything in the 60s."
Pre-tournament favorites Sweden are four shots away at 18 under after Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson carded a 66, while Germany sit at the fourth place at 17 under.
Ireland lie fifth on 15 under, and the United States team are level with Japan on 14 under.
Home stars Zhang Lianwei and Liang Wenchong restored to shape, notching ten birdies as they carded a 8 under 64 to get off the bottom area and move onto the 18th on the table.
The 43-year-old Zhang produced a chip-in birdie on the difficult 18th to wipe off the bad memories of their double bogey in the opening round.
"Finally, we have a smile on our face. 10 birdies today and four under after five holes was a great start," said Zhang Lianwei.
"On 18, we were quite nervous on the tee after what happened on Thursday. None of us hit the fairway but I told Liang not to give up and to aim for a par. My lie was bad in the rough but luckily my chip found the hole. It was a great shot."
(Xinhua News Agency December 1, 2008)
