English pair let golf do talking

World Cup: With a touch of devilment in his voice, Sergio Garcia looked at the electronic scoreboard that flickered by the side of the 18th green at the Real Club de Golf de Sevilla and offered the opinion that what the English pairing of Luke Donald and Paul Casey were conjuring up in yesterday's foursomes in the World Cup was "just outrageous".

About five minutes later, the leaders hinted at fallibility when suffering a bogey on the final hole.

But, still, England's round of 64 - three strokes better than any other on another picture-perfect day - enabled them to grasp this $4 million event by the scruff of the neck. In the notoriously difficult foursomes format, Donald and Casey blended beautifully to reach the halfway stage on 19-under-par 125, five shots clear of Austria, their closest pursuers.

Otherwise, it's all a bit cramped. The Irish duo of Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley - seemingly uplifted by attending an open air concert by The Corrs the previous night - failed to find any rhythm and played to an irregular beat in yesterday's foursomes.

"It just wasn't our day," admitted McGinley, after the pair signed for a 71 for 131 that left them in a six-way tie for third alongside South Africa, Sweden, the United States, Spain and Japan.

For England, though, it was a day to let their golf do the talking. Earlier in the week, Casey had stirred up some resentment with his remarks about American insularity and how he "hates" them during Ryder Cup week. By Thursday, he was contrite and offering apologies for how his comments had been interpreted.

Yesterday, he simply stayed away from the issue - "I'd rather not take any questions about anything else and just focus on the golf," he said - and remained focused on the job-at-hand of attempting to win the World Cup.

On another day of sunshine, with barely a breath of wind caressing this course moulded on flat terrain outside Seville, the two English players played wonderful golf to open up a comfortable cushion. One of only two teams with both players inside the top-50 on the world rankings, with South Africa being the other, England controlled their own destiny with a string of beautifully struck iron approach shots - mainly from Donald - and some magic with the blade, mainly from Casey.

"Our strategy was correct, it was as simple as that," opined Casey afterwards of a plan that saw Donald hit tee-shots off the odd-numbered holes, including all four par threes, and Casey the even-numbered holes.

"We played nice. Aggressive, yet not overly aggressive. We played conservatively in the right places and, you know, it paid off."

From early on, the English duo found their rhythm and, having started the day a shot adrift of Ireland and Austria, had moved into the lead by the time they walked off the fourth green with their second birdie of the round. By the time they walked off the sixth, having made four birdies in succession, a gap had opened up on those in pursuit.

Even when things went awry, the pair didn't panic.

For example, when Donald hit his three-iron tee-shot on the seventh into a bunker and Casey could only splash out to 12 feet, Donald sank the par putt.

"That was crucial, it really kept the momentum going," said Casey. "It would have been easy to let all of the momentum we had gathered slip at that point."

As if to underline that philosophy, they responded to the scare by birdieing both the eighth and ninth holes to turn in 30. Six birdies in nine holes was a stunning display of foursomes golf - and it didn't end there.

Further birdies were gathered at the 12th, 13th and 14th holes. And when Casey drove his tee-shot into the water on the 16th, potential disaster was averted when Donald played a wonderful approach shot with a fairway wood that barely cleared the water and finished on the front of the green. "He surprised me there, I thought he was laying up," said Casey.

Such an approach, however, indicated the confidence in their game and the only blemish came on the 18th, where Donald's approach missed the green and Casey's chip back down the slope finished 12 feet past the hole.

"I think in foursomes you're going to have some mistakes and it was disappointing to happen on the last because that will leave a little bit of a sour taste in our mouths," said Donald.

For those in pursuit, the reality is England will most likely have to aid their cause by dropping shots to help make any inroads into the gap.

"We're going to go out and try and play very aggressive again tomorrow (in the fourballs)," said Donald. "If we can shoot somewhere in double-digits under par, then I think we should have a good lead (going into Sunday's foursomes) and we'll have to reassess the situation."

The real surprise packets of the event have been Austria. After only securing a place in the 24-team field as reserves (when Thailand withdrew), Markus Brier and Martin Wiegele, who is faced with playing on the Challenge Tour next season after losing his Tour card, have reached the midway stage on 14-under-par 130.

"I think if we can just jump on the same ship as England, we could play very well," said Wiegele of the prospect of again being paired in the final group.