South Africa and Germany have made spectacular charges on the third day of the Omega Mission Hills World Cup that has rocketed them into second place.
Schwartzel (Centre), Oosthuizen and his caddy discussing an important putt
Both countries equalled the low round of the tournament at the Blackstone course at the Mission Hills resort on Hainan Island in China, firing blistering 11-under 61s in the betterball third round of fourballs to get to within two shots of strong favourites Ireland who took sole possession of the lead at 21-under after shooting an 8-under 64.
Two shots don't sound too daunting in most circumstances, especially to a major-winning combination like Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa who have climbed a mountain to get where they have after finishing fifth last of the 28 teams and seven shots shy of the lead after the first round of fourballs.
Yet when the owners of the lead are Ireland's World No 2 Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell, respective winners of the 2011 and 2010 US Open, its a different matter.
For beating two players of this calibre and form will surely be a mammoth task.
As it was, the Northern Irish duo looked dangerously calm and seriously competent as they forged ahead of overnight co-leaders Australia, who found birdies harder to come by than their closest rivals on Saturday and slipped back into 5th place with a less than exciting 67 in the easier format of the two in play this week.
This when the United States, represented by highly-ranked Matt Kuchar and rising Gary Woodland were using moving Saturday to join South Africa and Germany's Martin Kaymer and
Alex Cejka in joint second place, the Americans getting there after shooting a 63 built on some brilliant putting by Matt Kuchar.
He gave the gallery a master class in the art of putting on the 7th hole where he nailed a dangerous, slippery downhill chance from 15 feet.
Anything is possible in alternative-shot foursomes, the format in play in Sunday's final round, but at this stage the closing battle looks to be between a smooth-running Ireland, South Africa, the United States and Germany.
The Americans are hoping that Kuchar's putting form might be the key that makes the USA the more dangerous of the three.
But on the strength of the way they played their devastating final rounds at the 2011 Masters, where Schwartzel gobbled up McIlroy's three-shot lead in something like the first four holes and then charged away to win his Green Jacket in an all time low score for the final round, and the 2010 Open where Oosthuizen left the field for dead as he raced away to a huge victory
at St Andrews last year, South Africa might just be the team that spells the greatest threat to Ireland.
In the meantime, it was McIlroy who threw down an early marker with a brilliant birdie on the second. He was out of position with his second shot, but a glorious wedge over a bunker to five feet secured Ireland their birdie
McDowell further contributed to Ireland's score with another birdie at the third where he drained glorious 20-foot birdie putt.
Having turned in 31, McDowell and McIlroy, playing at the back of the field, never seemed to allow the heroics being g performed ahead of them by the South Africans, Germans, and to a
lesser extent, the Americans, to un settled them as they added three more birdies to their 8-under round of 64.
Scotland continued to slide on the leaderboard, a second successive 69 dropping them back into a tie for 9th with Wales and Korea at 15-under, a shot behind defending champions Italy and minions Mexico, who have almost certainly been the surprise package of the tournament.
So too have England's Ian Poulter and Justin Rose. but for a different reason. Despite their lofty credentials they have never really featured at Mission Hills and on Saturday slipped well off the pace into 15th place at 13-under with a disappointing 68.
Sweden's Robert Karlson and Alex Noren have fared even worse. One of the pre-tournament favourites, they are languishing in 22nd place at 10-under after an ugly 74 in the day two foursomes.
TOP 10 LEADERBOARD
195 Ireland (Graeme Mcdowell & Rory Mcilroy) 63 68 64
197 United States (Gary Woodland & Matt Kuchar) 64 70 63, Germany (Alex Cejka & Martin Kaymer) 65 71 61, South Africa (Charls Schwartzel & Louis Oosthuizen) 68 68 61
198 Australia (Brendan Jones & Richard Green) 61 70 67
199 Netherlands (Robert Jan Derksen & Joost Luiten) 64 71 64
200 Mexico (Jose De Jesus Rodriguez & Oscar Serna) 66 69 65, Italy (Edoardo Molinari & Francesco Molinari) 67 69 64
201 Scotland (Stephen Gallacher & Martin Laird) 63 69 69, Wales (Rhys Davies & Jamie Donaldson) 67 69 65, Korea (Kim Hyung Sung & Park Sung Joon) 66 71 64
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