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Belgium share lead in wet and windy Melbourne
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Belgium share lead in wet and windy Melbourne

Thomas Detry and Thomas Pieters fired a battling 71 in very tough conditions to take a share of the lead heading into the weekend at the ISPS HANDA Melbourne World Cup of Golf.

Thomas Detry and Thomas Pieters

The wind was swirling around The Metropolitan Golf Club all day and with intermittent spells of very heavy rain also making an appearance during the foursomes session, the field was a combined 109 over, with only four teams posting under-par rounds.

The Belgians were one of those as they moved to ten under alongside overnight leaders South Korea, with Byeong-hun An and Si Woo Kim carding a level par 72.

Italian pair Renato Paratore and Andrea Pavan, English duo Tyrrell Hatton and Ian Poulter, India's Gaganjeet Bhullar and Anirban Lahiri, and Malaysians Gavin Green and Ben Leong were then two shots off the lead.

Belgium carded three birdies and two bogeys, with Pieters playing some wonderful bunker shots from the wet, heavy sand on Melbourne's Sandbelt.

"I think we played very solid," said Pieters. "Both of us were pretty on. The short game was pretty good today. It's nice to know when I hit it to five feet he's always going to make it. I told him if he puts me in the bunker today, it's fine."

Detry added: "Waking up this morning and getting here, it was just like horizontal rain. The wind got up and didn't drop so it was just a tough day all around. Happy it's done and I'm excited for my shower tonight."

Overnight leaders South Korea and England both dropped shots on the first after finding sand to quickly make it a six-way tie at the top but Belgium broke that logjam as a lovely pitch from Pieters set up a birdie on the par-five seventh.

They gave the shot straight back when Detry missed a short one and then it was England's turn to hit the front on the seventh as Hatton holed a ten-footer to get them into double-figures.

Kim holed a long putt on the eighth and Pieters played a lovely deft chip on the par-five ninth to help make it a three-way tie at the top.

It's nice to know when I hit it to five feet he's always going to make it. I told him if he puts me in the bunker today, it's fine - Thomas Pieters

An approach to eight feet on the tenth from Pieters handed Belgium the solo lead as Detry made the putt but South Korea got on the ninth green in two to join them at 11 under.

The Koreans then bogeyed the 11th and 12th as Pieters set up fantastic sand saves on the same holes but An and Kim hit back on the par-five 14th.

The lead was tied when Detry found a bunker with Belgium's second at the 17th and that was how it would stay.

"It's such a tough format with this wind and rain so I think we did well to shoot under par today," said 2015 BMW PGA Championship winner An. "We tried to stay focused and it's such a tough wind and rain, it was chaos. I think we kept in the game and never got out of it."

England lost a hat-trick of wickets from the ninth but made an incredible par save on the 13th after needing two attempts to get out of a fairway bunker before birdieing the next.

Paratore made a very long birdie putt on the first for Italy and they moved into a share of the lead with another gain on the fourth but gave the shot straight back with a three-putt from just off the fifth green.

Pavan hit back from 12 feet on the seventh and while they dropped a shot on the eighth, they made the most of the par-five ninth before bogeying the 17th.

Lahiri holed a monster put on the first but sent the third shot on the fifth over the back of the green before Bhullar holed a five-footer on the ninth. That shot was given back on the tenth but they birdied the 13th before bogeying the 15th.

Green went a long way right off the tee on the third for a bogey but a nice Leong approach at the next set up the bounceback before bunker trouble brought a dropped shot on the fifth. Birdies on the 14th and 16th then sandwiched a bogey on the 15th.

Mexico had birdied the second and sixth and Abraham Ancer rolled home from just off the green at the ninth, with a bogey on the last leaving them alone at seven under.

Australia and Scotland were at six under, a shot clear of France and Sweden.

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