Day, Scott still well down at World Cup

Australia's Jason Day is proud to have held himself together on a day in which he and Adam Scott played well but made no ground in golf's World Cup.

Day started Friday's second round at Royal Melbourne two shots off the lead, Scott was nine off the pace and as a team, they were six shots behind.

By day's end, Day was four off the lead, Scott still nine adrift and their hopes of winning the Cup for Australia had slipped further, as they fell seven shots behind leaders the United States.

Day is still well in contention for individual honours, equal third after shooting a one-under-par 70 to take him to four-under.

Denmark's Thomas Bjorn leads on eight-under, with American Kevin Streelman a shot back in second.

But Day could have been much closer.

After his only bogey of the day on the par-4 11th, birdie putts lipped out on the 12th and 13th holes.

On the 17th, his approach rolled over the hole and his birdie putt of less than three metres then teetered on the edge, but wouldn't drop.

"This course can make you want to snap your clubs over your knees," Day said.

"It's really hard to control that frustration sometimes.

Strong crowd support and calming words from caddie Col Swatton helped.

"This is a kind of course that will frustrate you and make you make mental errors and you just can't let that happen," Day said.

Scott, who shot a four-over 75 on Thursday, also had his frustrating moments despite carding 68 on Friday to reach one-over.

But while the world No.2 had five birdies, he also lipped out for eagle after a brilliant drive on the 285m par-4 sixth and then lipped out again with his birdie putt from a little over a metre.

He also lost ground with a double-bogey on the par 4 11th, when he reached a greenside bunker in one, but needed two bunker shots and three putts.

Scott hasn't given up on individual or team honours.

"It would be nice if I could play my way up there to the top few individually tomorrow and tee off around Jason (on Sunday) as well," Scott said.

"We both just have to play well over the weekend, but the teams competition is well within our reach.

"(Seven) shots between two people can change very quickly."

Jason Day leads Australia's World Cup golf challenge

 

Already fighting a mental battle to play while grieving, Jason Day has also assumed the added pressure of leading the host nation's challenge at this week's World Cup.

 

On a day on which hot favourite Adam Scott finally had a letdown, his teammate Day emerged as a contender for the individual crown, firing a three-under-par 68 on day one of the event to sit sixth behind joint leaders Kevin Streelman (United States) and Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) at five under.

 

Day is playing at Royal Melbourne despite losing eight relatives in the typhoon that has devastated the Philippines.

Bjorn moves ahead at World Cup of Golf

Melbourne, Australia (SportsNetwork.com) - Thomas Bjorn carded a 3-under 68 on Friday to claim a 1-stroke lead at the halfway point of the World Cup of Golf.

Bjorn, who is a 14-time winner on the European Tour but is seeking his first PGA Tour victory, completed two rounds at Royal Melbourne Golf Club at 8- under-par 134.

"I played really solid today," said Bjorn in a televised interview. "It got very windy and it was a bit tricky, but I love this golf course. It's just the way I love playing golf. It suits my eye and I just played solid for two days. If I can keep doing more of the same, then I'm in good shape."

Kevin Streelman held a share of the first-round lead with Bjorn, but posted a 2-under 69 to sit in second place at 7-under 135.

Jason Day (70) and Ricardo Santos (69) shared third at 4-under, while Matt Kuchar (68), Martin Laird (72), Hideto Tanihara (67) and Stuart Manley (72) are tied for fifth at minus-3.

The tournament consists of 60 players representing 34 different countries based on the Official World Golf Ranking and includes both an individual and team competition. The top two players from each country are teamed up and their scores are combined to account for their team score.

The United States' duo of Streelman and Kuchar currently holds the team lead at 10-under. Denmark sits in second at 7-under thanks to Bjorn's two-day total.

Streelman was the first of the first-round co-leaders to take the course and quickly pulled ahead by opening his round with four straight birdies, including about a 20-foot putt at the third, to move to 9-under.

"It was a heck of a start," Streelman said. "I just kind of put the ball where I needed to and then made some great putts."

A bogey at the eighth dropped him back to minus-8, and he followed that with a double-bogey 6 at the ninth to drop his lead to just a stroke over K.J. Choi, who had birdied the second to move to 5-under.

Laird birdied the second to meet Choi in second before Choi tripped to a double bogey at the fourth to drop three shots off the pace.

Choi was replaced in second by Bjorn, as he bounced back from an opening bogey with a birdie at the second to get back to 5-under.

Bjorn then made it two in a row with another gain at the third to meet Streelman in first at 6-under.

Bjorn later birdied the sixth to move a stroke clear of Streelman and claim the outright lead. Streelman, however, answered with a birdie at the par-5 15th to join Bjorn atop the leaderboard.

Streelman parred his final three holes to head into the clubhouse at 7-under.

"I kind of had two rough holes there in the middle, but I was able to get it back together and then finish with a relatively good round," stated Streelman.

Bjorn, meanwhile, followed his birdie at the sixth with six straight pars before rolling in a birdie at the 13th to claim the outright lead at 8-under.

He briefly pulled further away with a short birdie putt at the 17th, but he closed with a 3-putt bogey at the last to end at 8-under.

NOTES: Bjorn is teamed with Thorbjorn Olesen, who is tied for 21st place at 1- over-par 143 ... Choi posted a 3-over 74 in his second round to fall into a share of ninth place at 1-under 141 ... Kuchar won the team event with Gary Woodland the last time this tournament was contested in 2011.