A RESURGENT US team pointed to a long-accepted truism of World Cup golf for their dramatic improvement here at Erinvale yesterday. "Once one guy gets roll in, it seems to rub off on the other guy" said Tom Lehman.
Sadly, Ireland showed that the same could also be true in reverse, when they slipped from 10th to 18th position.
While South Africa carded late birdies to keep Scotland off the top of the leaderboard, Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington had their individual tales of woe after rounds of 75. And on being pushed out to seven over par, they found themselves three strokes worse off than the renowned golfing stronghold of Namibia.
In fairness to the Irish, no excuses were offered. "I played poorly, particularly with my irons," said Clarke. And his partner continued to experience problems on the greens, starting his round with two three-putt bogeys, as he had done on Thursday. "We've done badly," was Harrington's candid comment.
Clarke then highlighted the negative side of Lehman's observation by explaining: "We tried to lift each other, but nothing seemed to happen. If we could only have strung a few birdies together, we would have been right back there in the thick of it."
Still, there were many good things about the day, starting with the welcome return of bright, warm sunshine. And the combination of fresh winds and demanding pin positions, ensured that the Gary Player-designed course offered a splendid test.
Ironically, these factors seemed to be bringing grief to the home pairing of Ernie Els and Wayne Westner who were attempting to defend a two-stroke overnight lead over Denmark. In the event they were overhauled by the Scots for whom Paul Lawrie had another splendid day, carding four birdies in a round of 70.
But as the Scots talked about their prospects of claiming the title for the first time, they heard the dramatic news from the 18th. In the last match of what had been six-hour rounds, Westner found the target with an 18-foot birdie putt and Els followed him home from eight feet, lifting the team back into the lead on eight under par.
There were even more remarkable team performances further down the order. For instance, in only their second challenge in the event, China emphasised the merit of their performance on Thursday by being one under par at this stage. As one observer here put it: "Two years ago they didn't know to spell golf; now they're capable of competing with the best."
In fact the Chinese pair came into the World Cup last year simply because their country happened to be playing host to the event at the Shenzhen club. Cheng Jun and Zhang Lianwei had turned professional only the previous year and ultimately finished 45 strokes behind the champions, Fred Couples and Davis Love.
But they have learned quickly. Only last month, the same pair won the qualifying competition by a crushing seven strokes in Jamaica and they are currently in a share of sixth position here.
Namibia's debut performance also requires some explanation, given that the former South West Africa can claim only three grass courses and three professionals. One of them is Trevor Dodds, a 37-year-old who has played all over the world and has just completed a very successful season in Canada, with four tournament victories.
Meanwhile, Paolo Quirici found a very effective way of overcoming extremely tricky greens when he holed in one at the 169-yard eighth. It meant that the Swiss had every number on his card from one to six in a round of 70, helping his country to a share of 12th place at this stage.
Clarke and Harrington had only five birdies between them while, for the opposing German team, Bernhard Langer had six birdies on his own card in a round of 68. Only two players matched that, score in the testing conditions, Jean Van de Velde of France and Mexico's Rafael Alarcon.
"I'm missing putts because I'm getting the' pace wrong," said Harrington, who headed for the putting green in an attempt at some remedial work. "I suspect part of the problem is the fact that the greens are new and still settling down." It could be argued that other players faced the same problem, but Harrington's game has always been based on success, with the blade.
The key to Scotland's continued prominence was another fine back nine from Lawrie, who was three under par for the last seven holes. Over that stretch, he sank a birdie putt of four feet at the 12th; had a two-putt birdie from seven feet at the long 13th and holed a 10 footer at the 17th.
After Lehman and Steve Jones had each shot 70 to revive the American challenge, they apologised to the media for their failure, to appear for interview on Thursday. "It had nothing to do with our disappointing play," said the British Open champion. "The fact was that we were already late for a 7.30 p.m. speaking engagement in Cape Town." This was effectively a prayer meeting which the two born-again Christians bad promised to attend.
The innate warmth of Lehman was also evident as he commented on South African hopes of victory this weekend. "Looking at it from the outside, it would be wonderful for the country to win the World Cup," he said. "But Tom Lehman the competitor wants to catch them and run right over them."
Els would expect nothing less. Which caused him to conclude: "I hope that this is our bad day. We will certainly have to score at the weekend to win."