Americans Boo Weekley and Heath Slocum hit a solid three-under-par 69 to retain a one-shot lead over their more fancied rivals after the second-round foursomes at the World Cup on Friday.

Pre-tournament favourites England raced off and topped the leaderboard by two shots midway through the round, but the whole field found the alternate ball format more taxing and a late bogey dragged them back down. Meanwhile, Indian duo of Jyoti Randhawa and Gaurav Ghei ended the second day with a lacklustre three-over-par 75 for a combined score of four-under-par 140 and are tied 23rd to be stacked almost at the bottom of the leaderboard.

The Indian pair had returned a sizzling seven-under-par 65 for a creditable tied 11th position after the first day’s action.

Weekley and Slocum
England's Justin Rose and Ian Poulter looked set for a good score at five-under through 10 holes but they parred the next five and dropped a shot when Poulter sent the ball racing past the 17th hole to leave his partner with a seven-foot par putt.

The format switches to fourballs again on Saturday and then back to foursomes on the final day of this $5 million tournament.