Sweden's Carl Pettersson and Henrik Stenson combined for an eight-under par 63 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead over Argentina after the third round of the World Golf Championships World Cup.
Playing a four-ball format on the penultimate day of the US$4 million event, Pettersson and Stenson produced a bogey-free round that featured four birdies in a row starting at the ninth hole.
The Swedes also had back-to-back birdies at the second and third holes as well as on 15 and 16 to seize the lead from Argentina, which began the day with a three-stroke lead over the 24-duo field.
PHOTO: AP
Entering yesterday's foursomes final round, the Swedes were on 16-under par 197 with the South American duo of Angel Cabrera and Andres Romero one adrift and Scotland's Colin Montgomerie and Marc Warren third on 199 after a round of 65.
"We were trying to grind," Petterson said. "We knew we had to shoot low, and on the back nine we really got it going."
Romero and Cabrera had stretched their lead with four birdies in the first seven holes on Saturday.
But their run of 42 holes without a bogey ended at the eighth, and they made just one more birdie on the day as the Swedes surged past.
"We are close," Romero said. "One stroke. It's not very much. We are sure of that."
Defending champions Bradley Dredge and Stephen Dodd of Wales eagled the par-5 sixth and birdied the final five holes to achieve the best round of the tournament, a nine-under 62, and join a logjam in fourth on 202.
"We knew we had to come out and make as many birdies as we could and that's the beauty of fourballs, you've got a partner if you make a mistake," Dodd said.
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