Ireland Sees Lead Shaved to One Stroke in World Cup of Golf

After starting out red-hot with a 14-under 58 that vaulted and kept them in the lead in the World Cup of Golf, the Irish team of Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy now have only a one-stroke margin heading into Sunday's final round at Mission Hills Golf Club in Dongguan, China.

The two players representing Ireland carded an 8-under 64 Saturday in the team event and now stand at 26-under 190. Defending champion Sweden, with Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson, shot a 10-under 62 and are now only a stroke behind the leaders along with Italy and the brothers Edoardo and Francesco Molinari, who tied for the low round of the day with South Korea - an 11-under 61.

Since Japan (Hiroyuki Fujita and Ryuji Imada) and South Africa (Rory Sabbatini and Richard Sterne) are seven shots back of Ireland, this is likely a three-team race to decide the winner.

"Barring any disaster in the foursomes, I can't see any other teams but the top three winning," McDowell said.

The winning team will pocket $1.7 million of the $5.5 million purse, with each player receiving $850,000. The second-place team will split $900,000. Sunday's final round will be fourballs (alternate-shot), rather than the best-ball foursomes where the scores are lower.

The 20-year-old McIlroy is looking forward to the final round, adding that bringing the World Cup back to Ireland would be the highlight of his brief career. "You know, it's very special to win an event, but to win it with a partner and to win it with a friend would make it even more special," he said.

The Swedes will be paired with the South Africans in the second-to-last group Sunday at the Olazabal Course. "I am glad that we are not in the final group," Stenson said. "We have a chance to steal a march on the guys behind us and that's what we will be trying to do."

The American team of Nick Watney and John Merrick continued to struggle, shooting a 67. They were 16 shots behind at 10-under 206 in a tie for 22nd after 54 holes.