Thomas Detry and Thomas Pieters fired a battling 71 in very tough conditions to help Belgium take a share of the lead heading into the weekend at the World Cup of Golf.
The wind was swirling around Melbourne’s Metropolitan Golf Club all day, and with intermittent spells of very heavy rain also making an appearance during the foursomes session, the field was a combined 109 over, with only four teams posting under par rounds.
The Belgians were among those as they moved to ten under alongside overnight leaders South Korea, with Byeong-hun An and Si Woo Kim carding a level par 72.
Italian pair Renato Paratore and Andrea Pavan, English duo Tyrrell Hatton and Ian Poulter, India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar and Anirban Lahiri, and Malaysians Gavin Green and Ben Leong were then two shots off the lead.
South Africa’s combination of two-time European Tour winner Dylan Frittelli and Graduate of the Year Erik van Rooyen dropped four places to T17 on Friday.
An opening bogey was offset by birdies on two of the three front nine par 5s to get them moving in the right direction.
Progress was halted as they battled to four straight bogeys between holes 11 and 14. A fifth bogey off the inward nine came at the last hole as they found themselves eight shots behind the co-leaders, with 36 holes to play.
