Sweden might yet have something to say in the destination of the trophy

Also out of contention are holders Scotland. They had dragged themselves back to something approaching respectability at six-under, but a botched wedge by Forsyth on 15, when he missed the target by twenty feet from only eighty yards, heralded a dismal patch for the Scots. They double-bogeyed 16, and bogeyed again on 17, to leave themselves in the bottom half of the field.

Also disappointing were hosts China. They did not manage a single birdie in their round, and a bogey on the first and a double-bogey on 12 wiped out their three-under from day 1. They lie 25th, with only Venezuela, Guatemala, and Wales behind them. This will come as a great disappointment to the team, particularly to Zhang Lianwei, who is a local, and even more so to the large and vociferous Chinese support, who started the competition in high hopes of a home win.

And so it is back to the fourball format for day 3, with the prospect of further low scores. It would be a lot to expect that Spain can repeat their round 2 fireworks, the margin between success and failure in golf being so tiny, but if they can put together any kind of front nine to match their round 2 effort then the title will be theirs for the taking

Shot of the day: A corker of a drive from Mexico's Daniel De Leon on the par-5 11th. He carved it so far to the right that he reached the pre-fairway rough on the 7th hole – a considerable achievement given the height of the mountain and the extent of the forest he had to negotiate to get there. His poor caddy – one of the local Mission Hills girls - must have wished she was a combination of Tarzan and a Nepalese Sherpa to get to his ball. Having found it, the Mexicans decided to carry on up the 7th, and then had the chutzpah to par the hole.

Oscar Serna's caddy completes a long climb to retrieve the Mexican's ball on seven, while they were actually playing nine.

(China.org.cn by David Ferguson November 30, 2008)