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Published on November 24, 2007

The duo were a surprise selection after higher-ranked players such as Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson turned down the invitation to compete for their country in the US$5-million tournament.

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

Weekley and Slocum, world rated 43rd and 70th respectively, carded a three-under-par 69 in the second round foursomes for a 14-under 130 total.

They are a stroke ahead of favourites Justin Rose and Ian Poulter of England and last year's runners-up Colin Montgomerie and Marc Warren of Scotland, who returned matching 68s.

The South African duo of Retief Goosen and Trevor Immelman, both former winners with different partners, dropped out of a tie for second place after a bogey at the last. They shot 69.

The 72-hole tournament, with two days of fourballs and two of alternate shot foursomes, is being played over the spectacular Olazabal layout at Mission Hills Golf Club.

Weekley and Slocum failed to reproduce the fireworks of the first round when they had two eagles and seven birdies but were happy to have ground out an under-par score to maintain the lead.

"I think we played pretty solid today," said Slocum, a two-time winner of the PGA Tour. "We made a couple of mistakes, made a couple of bogeys. But foursomes is a hard format to play and it is difficult to keep a rhythm. We started the day ahead and finished the day ahead so we are looking forward to the weekend."

Weekley, who said that the only message he had received from home after their Thanksgiving Day heroics on Thursday was that the "turkey was good", confirmed it had been a hard slog.

"We were not hitting our best and not putting our best, that is for sure," said the winner of this year's Verizon Heritage. "Our score was pretty impressive. It was a grind."

European No 1 Rose and Poulter were cruising at five-under-par after 10 holes but their round stalled after that with a bogey and seven pars on the home stretch.

"It's a bit of a shame [shooting 68] after you have got off to such a flying start," said Poulter, who lifted the Dunlop Phoenix title in Japan at the weekend.

"It would have been nice to be bogey free but that is out of the way. We will go into tomorrow feeling good and certainly Sunday feeling happy how we gelled today [in the foursomes]," he added.

South Korea's Lee Sung and Lee Seung-ho may have problems communicating with each other but that surely was no obstacle for them from staying in contention.

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.

Seung-ho, 21, said he was relishing the challenges 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 is good," Seung-ho said.

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 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 colours on their shirts, they are determined to keep the country's flag flying high.

"It was a pretty good score today as we did not play that well," Seung-ho said.

Agencies

shenzen, China