Print this page  |  Close Window

The format for the week has teams playing Four-Ball (Better Ball) in the first and third rounds. The second and fourth rounds will be Foursomes (Alternate Shot).

Thursday's weather -- mostly sunny skies and a high temperature of 74 degrees.

Finland was the first team off the tee Thursday morning and the Finns got off to a blazing start thanks to Pasi Purhonen's birdie-birdie-eagle run. The team added birdies at Nos. 5 (Mikko Ilonen) and 9 (Purhonen) to make the turn at 6-under (30). The team shot a 9-under-par 63, despite a bogey, with Purhonen making six birdies and an eagle on his ball. Purhonen currently has no Official World Golf Ranking while the more-heralded Illonen is ranked No. 63 in this week's OWGR.

The team from Wales -- Bradley Dredge (No. 53, OWGR) and Stephen Dodd (No. 264, OWGR) also posted a 9-under 63 with a bogey. The team had birdies on four of the final five holes, with Dodd accounting for three of the final four.

The highest-ranked pairing in the 28-team event is England, with Justin Rose (No. 8, OWGR) and Ian Poulter (No. 20, OWGR). Poulter had a pair of eagle-3s Thursday on Nos. 9 and 11. The English team finished with a 9-under 63.

Team Scotland was bogey-free during and opening-day 63. The duo got four birdies from Colin Montgomerie and five from Marc Warren.

The duo from South Africa (Trevor Immelman and Retief Goosen) also posted a 9-under 63 with Immelman contributing five birdies and an eagle.

Germany's duo of Alex Cejka and Martin Kaymer carded a 10-under 62 and is in second place after the first day. Cejka (No. 252, OWGR) had eight birdies to lead the team. Germany is the defending team champion, though last year's winning tandem consisted of Marcel Siem and Bernhard Langer.

The host team from China shot a 7-under-par 65 and is tied for 11th place after the initial 18.

The United States tandem of Boo Weekley and Heath Slocum grabbed the first-round lead with an 11-under 61. Weekley had six birdies and an eagle, while Slocum had a birdie and an eagle as well. Weekley holed his second shot for an eagle-2 on the 457-yard, 12th hole to push his team to 8-under that point. This is the first trip to China for both players. Slocum played a team event in Japan in 1996.

Today's first-day leaders are well off the the lowest four-ball score of 15-under 57 (since 2000, when the tournament came under the umbrella of the World Golf Championships) first set by Argentina (Angel Cabrera and Eduardo Romero) and New Zealand (Frank Nobilo and Greg Turner) in the opening round of 2000. The United States team of Phil Mickleson and David Toms also posted a 57 in the third round in 2002.

Since the World Cup has come under the umbrella of the World Golf Championships in 2000, South Africa is the only country to win the event more than once. The team of Ernie Els and Retief Goosen won the tournament in 2001, while Trevor Immelman and Rory Sabbatini captured the title in 2003.

A total of 12 bogeys (by 10 teams) were recorded during the first-day's scoring with Colombia and Puerto Rico the only countries with more than one on the card -- each team had two.

The first-round scoring average for the par-72 course was 64.929. The United States leads the standings at 11-under while the teams from Colombia and Puerto Rico are tied for 27th at 4-under par.