KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's World Cup golf hopes drifted towards the bottom of the ladder after a hard slog in Shenzhen saw them falling well off the pace of the sizzling Spanish and the charging Australians.
Mark Brown and David Smail did well enough in the third round of the
Omega Mission Hills World Cup, carding a four under par 68 in the potentially low-scoring fourballs.
But 'well enough' wasn't enough to bridge the 14-stroke gap with the co-leaders, Spain and Australia, nor to hold off France (Gregory Bourdy and Gregory Havret) who carded the round of the day with a 10 under par 62, England (Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher) a 63 and China (Zhang Liang-Wei and Liang Wen-Chong) a 64.
Most of the action was still with the hot Spanish experience-and-youth combination of Miguel Angel Jimenez and Pablo Larrazabal, with the veteran Jimenez putting his younger partner - European Rookie Of The Year in 2008 - at ease with quips, backslapping and puffs on his trademark cigars.
The Spanish pair were plainly enjoying a course designed by compatriot Jose Maria Olazabal and led Australia's Richard Green and Brendan Jones by four strokes for most of yesterday's round.
The Spaniards carded a five under par 67 but Green and Jones performed wonders on the back nine, shooting a 63 to catch the Spanish on the 18th hole.
Next came the highest-ranked pair in the tournament, Sweden's Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson, on 18 under after a 66. They are still a chance to win if they can really make things happen in the more difficult foursomes format on the final round today - and if Spain and Australia stumble.
That is a possibility as the scores can soar into troubled territory in foursomes - as the Kiwis discovered in the second round.
The German team of Alex Cejka and Martin Kaymer were a further stroke back and USA's Ben Curtis and Brandt Snedeker lie sixth, on
14 under par after a 69 - and seem too far back to catch the leaders. As do the Irish (Paul McGinley and Graeme McDowell), fifth on 15 under after a 68.
The Kiwi pair lay sixth after the first day but a poor 75 in the second round collapsed their hopes and they haven't quite been able to re-capture that opening form. A top-10 performance can only be claimed with an impressive round today.
Lesser lights Italy and Thailand also shot 64s yesterday, accentuating the scoring possibilities under the fourball format. Thailand moved up to equal 12th and Italy 14th while the Danes, Soren and Anders Hansen, also shot a 64 to move into eighth place.