Daly crashes at World Cup

The US players were not the only ones to struggle, as the winds gusted in from Hauraki Gulf, but their crash was the most spectacular.

None of the 32-nation teams were able to dominate today and New Zealand presidents cup player Greg Turner was livid about the course design after he and partner Frank Nobilo shot five-over today to be four-over for the tournament.

“Frank got screwed on a number of occasions, I got screwed on a couple and people are going to get screwed all week,” Turner said.

“It’s annoying and frustrating.” Faldo had a serene round,almost unaffected by the problems. He had a two-under 70 with two birdies and no bogeys, in contrast to carter whose 71 included four birdies and three bogeys.

“It’s very difficult out there but we both played solid, smart,” Faldo said. “I missed only two greens.” He went to the top of the individual leaderboard at six-under after Japanese pacesetter Yasuharu Imano fell from nine-under after 15 to five-under with consecutive double bogeys. Imano followed his eight-under 64 from round one with a 75 while partner Mitsutaka Kusakabe also had a torrid day with 80.

Daly started well enough, picking up two shots on the opening nine to move his own score to two-under, while Verplank had an eagle at the easy par-two second and a birdie at six.

Verplank started the slide when he was forced to drop on the straightforward eleventh and had a bogey. At the next, a 309-metre (340-yard) par-4, Daly got a gust behind him and his tee shot cleared the green, running into thick grass under a tree. Daly’s drop meant abogey at the same hole where he lost a ball yesterday.

Verplank added another bogey with a poor chip after missing the green of the par-3 13th, but worse was to come. Daly’s tee shot at the 14th speared off to the left and was stuck deep in tough, wiry grass. Daly’s first hack failed to budge the ball and although his second spooned it just ten-meters (30-feet) it took eight people scouring the general area to find it. Daly just cleared the grass with his next then found a bunker and failed to keep his wedge on the green. Daly had two more bogeys before pars at 17 and 18.

Daly refused to comment after his 77 but Verplank (72) said the course was not unfair.

“The course if fine, if it stays like this it will just play more difficult and that’s good for us,” Verplank said. “The strong winds made the last six holes just brutal,” but Verplank said the team still had a winning chance.

Australia and South Africa were equal second at four-under after ending with a flurry of bogeys, while Scotland’s ColinMontgomerie had a three-under 69 to put his team in fourth at three-under.

Canada’s Ian Leggatt followed his 69 with a 70 to share second place on the individual standings with Italy’s Costantino Rocca (65-74) and Imano.