Melbourne, Australia: Team China overcame a disastrous start to salvage a level par 72 in the third round’s foursomes session at the US$8 million ISPS HANDA World Cup of Golf and stayed within striking touch of leader Denmark on Saturday.

Wu Ashun and Li Haotong stumbled with a double bogey and bogey in their opening two holes at Kingston Heath Golf Club before recovering courageously with birdies on four, five and 11 to end the day in third place on nine-under-par 207, some five shots behind the dynamic Danish duo of Soren Kjeldsen and Thorbjorn Olesen who returned a 70.

The United States pairing of Jimmy Walker and Rickie Fowler carded a solid 69 to force their way into Sunday’s final pairing but trail by four shots in their bid to deliver a 25th World Cup of Golf victory for their country.

Japan’s rising son Hideki Matsuyama, the world number six, produced a 71 alongside partner Ryo Ishikawa in the more difficult alternate shot format to share fourth position with Spain’s Rafa Cabrera Bello and Jon Rahm, and French duo Victor Dubuisson and Romain Langasque.

The 31-year-old Wu, a double winner on the European Tour, was delighted he and Li fought back following their stuttering start in the final match of the day with Denmark.

“We had some trouble from the beginning but we played very good after that,” Wu said. “We talked a bit and said ‘let's go, new tournament right now, new hole right now.’ Nothing can be worse after two holes. We still had a lot of holes, a lot of chances and we played simple golf and made some birdies.”

Li, winner of his national Open this season, added: “It was very good to recover like that. We had a horrible start. I had so many bad shots and I’m glad my partner played very well and very stable. That's why we still shot even par. We need to do some work (tomorrow).”

With Kjeldsen and Olesen dovetailing superbly all week, the Chinese duo know they face an uphill task in their bid to make World Cup of Golf history as China has never won the prestigious team event. Li was born in 1995, the year China hosted its first World Cup of Golf.

“For sure it's attack in our mind (tomorrow) because there’s nothing to lose. We’re already behind by a lot shots, so we just play and make birdies. I think we can do that,” said Wu.

The slender Li reckons being in the penultimate group on Sunday would ease the pressure on them as they seek to reel in Team Denmark. “It's going to be way less pressure. I’ve already played six weeks in a row and my body is real tired. I’ll just keep it simple and try my best,” he said.

“I think it's a really big lead actually, especially for fourball because everybody is going to shoot low. We will try.”

Kjeldsen, with five international victories under his belt, was pleased with his team’s solid play which saw them register five birdies against two dropped shots. “I think we played really well for three days, with today no exception. Obviously it's a different format and I think the quality of play again was very high and we need to keep that going. As Thorbjorn says, a lot of birdies will be made tomorrow so we've got to try and make those birdies,” said the 41-year-old.

On the back of a recent win at the Turkish Airlines Open, 27-year-old Olesen was hopeful of hoisting the World Cup. He said: “We showed yesterday that a really low score is possible out there in the fourball. I had a seven-shot lead in Turkey and it got down to one very quickly, so I know how quick this game can go sometimes. It's definitely not going to be easy tomorrow. There’re a lot of great players here and a lot of birdies out there. It's a four-shot lead, which is really nice, but it's not going to be easy.

Walker, who lifted his first Major title at the PGA Championship this year, was delighted he and Fowler produced the joint low round of the day with five birdies against two bogeys at Kingston Heath.

“Seemed like Rickie hit pretty much every approach shot and I had all the putts and I got some putts to go in in the middle of the round and we just kept playing solid with some really good pars and it was a nice finish,” said the 37-year-old Walker, who holds six wins on the PGA Tour.

Fowler added: “We gave ourselves a chance. It's going to take some good golf and some birdies obviously, but it will be nice being in that final group to know exactly where we stand.”

Leading third round scores
202: Denmark (Søren KJELDSEN/Thorbjørn OLESEN) 72-60-70
206: USA (Rickie FOWLER/Jimmy WALKER) 70-67-69
207: China (WU Ashun/LI Haotong) 70-65-72
209: France (Victor DUBUISSON/Romain LANGASQUE) 70-67-72, Spain (Rafa CABRERA BELLO/Jon RAHM) 69-67-73, Japan (Hideki MATSUYAMA/Ryo ISHIKAWA) 73-65-71
210: Italy (Francesco MOLINARI/Matteo MANASSERO) 71-66-73
211: Sweden (Alex NOREN/David LINGMERTH) 72-66-73, Ireland (Shane LOWRY/Graeme MCDOWELL) 72-69-70, New Zealand (Danny LEE/Ryan FOX) 75-64-72