Ireland's World Cup lead remains three after shaky back nine Friday

SHENZHEN, China -- Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell maintained Ireland's lead at the Omega World Cup at three shots after carding a battling 4-under-par 68 in Friday's foursomes.

Ireland lit the course up in Thursday's fourballs and looked on course for a commanding lead after moving five shots clear of the field at the turn, picking up two birdies and an eagle in the testing alternate-shot format.

But the duo failed to add to their total on the way home with a late brace of birdies needed to wipe out an ugly double bogey to progress to 18 under par overall and maintain their strong position.

Defending champions Sweden, meanwhile, charged ominously into contention. Henrik Stenson and Robert Karlsson combined to shoot the only bogey-free round as a 7-under-par 65 moved last year's winners into second place following late back-to-back birdies.

"We started out the day with a three-shot lead and we still have a three-shot lead. It was a good day," said world No. 10 McIlroy. "This format is a lot trickier than the fourball, you have to rely on your partner to get you out of trouble, while you have to take responsibility in the fourball."

After setting the course alight with a flawless first round of 14-under 58, Ireland was steaming toward a substantial lead with McIlroy's tap in eagle at the seventh the highlight of a solid front nine. But the back nine was much more of a battle as a first bogey of the week arrived at No. 11 following McIlroy's wayward tee shot.

The loss was quickly regained two holes later, but after McDowell hit his approach into the tricky 15th into the water, McIlroy eventually missed a two-foot uphill putt as Ireland shipped a double bogey just as Sweden and Italy reeled off a glut of birdies to charge up the leaderboard and slash the advantage.

But just as Sweden capped off its impressive error-free round, McDowell rolled home at 16 to stretch the lead to two before holing from 20 feet a hole later to quickly regain the lost shots.

"I think we would have taken 68 on the first tee," added McIlroy. "We had a goal which was to get a bit lower than that, but we played pretty solid and apart from the couple of mistakes on the back nine, we could have got a better score.

"I think we really showed good character to come back with the two birdies on 16 and 17 after the double bogey, it was a good days work."

Italian brothers Francesco and Edoardo Molinari sit third a further shot off the pace after a 66 with Japan's Hiroyuki Fujita and Ryuji Imada (71) fourth at 11 under and Wales (68) and Venezuela (67) a further shot adrift.

"We played well yesterday but didn't really put the score together, but I definitely felt like we played a lot better yesterday than we did last year," said Karlsson.

"So at the end of the day it was a little bit frustrating with a 64, but I knew that the game was there to put a good score together today, and we did, so that's very, very encouraging."

England's Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher sit tied for ninth alongside South Africa, India and New Zealand after a 70 but are nine shots off the pace with Martin Kaymer's Germany (71) a further two back and a Sergio Garcia-led Spain (71) languishing at 4 under par ahead of only Scotland, Brazil and Pakistan.

The United States team of Nick Watney and John Merrick is 13 shots off the pace after adding an even-par 72 to their opening 67. They're tied with the Korean duo of Charlie Wi and reigning PGA champion Y.E. Yang.

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