Warren and Montgomerie have dovetailed to great effect

R2 LEADERBOARD:
-11 Argentina (Cabrera/Romero)
-8 Germany (Langer/Siem), Sweden (Stenson/Pettersson), Scotland (Montgomerie/Warren)
-7 South Africa (Sabbatini/Sterne), Spain (Jimenez/Fernandez-Castano)
-6 England (Donald/Howell)
-5 Mexico (Toledo/Gonzalez)

Scotland's Colin Montgomerie and Marc Warren carded a four-under 67 in Friday's foursomes to climb into second place at golf's World Cup.

On a windy day at the World Golf Championships event in Barbados, the Scottish duo improved to eight under, three shots behind leaders Argentina.

Germany and Sweden are alongside Scotland, with South Africa and Spain a shot further back in a tie for fifth.

England's Luke Donald and David Howell are in seventh place on six under.

Montgomerie, who had insisted prior to the event that Scotland had a great chance of victory, was quick to pay tribute to his talented young partner after the round.

No-one is running away with it and we are not too far away with two rounds to go Marc Warren

The 25-year-old Warren enjoyed a breakthrough season on the European Tour in 2006, winning the Scandinavian Masters in August and being named Rookie of the Year.

"I knew we had a good chance this year with Marc," said the 43-year-old Montgomerie, who came to the Sandy Lane resort after a dreadful display at the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa last week.

"Winning the Challenge Tour is very tough to do and then coming on tour and winning his first tournament, against a Swede in Sweden (Ryder Cup player Robert Karlsson), was proof that Marc can handle himself under pressure.

"He's proved himself again this week so there is no surprise that we're doing well. We have a very good team. If I can just keep going the next two rounds and help him, we'll be OK."

Howell and Donald had an up-and-down day but remain in touch

Warren, who won the Henry Cotton award 18 years after his team-mate, holed all six of Scotland's birdie putts in the alternate shot format.

The only blemishes on their card were bogeys at the 10th, after Warren missed a short par putt, and the last, after Montgomerie uncharacteristically pulled his drive.

While Warren had the hot putter he was more than happy to acknowledge his partner's superb approach work.

"Colin is a great player," Warren said. "He is so solid tee to green and holing out that you feel you are one or two shots up before you start.

"You are so confident in your partner and that gives you confidence as well.

"As soon as I knew Monty was going to play in the event it's been something I've been looking forward to. No-one is running away with it and we are not too far away with two rounds to go."

Argentine duo Angel Cabrera and Andres Romero added a 67 to their opening 64, while Sweden's Carl Pettersson and Henrik Stenson returned a 70 and Germany's Marcel Siem and Bernhard Langer a 69.

It was a good finish and that at least got us thinking about winning again Luke Donald

Defending champions Wales slumped to a second-round 75 to lie nine off the lead alongside Ireland who struggled to a 73.

Pre-tournament favourites England also looked out of the running as they stood three over for the day after 13 holes, but Ryder Cup team-mates Donald and Howell birdied the next four holes to get back to six under.

"We had no momentum and just weren't making many putts," said Donald.

"The 5th got us again and we made bogey there and then David missed a short putt for par on 11.

"On the 13th we came up just a couple of yards short and it rolled back down the hill and suddenly it's a double bogey and we're three over.

"We were still trying to have some fun and try to make some birdies and David started rolling the putts in, which is what he's supposed to do! That's why I picked him, he's a good putter.

"It was a good finish and that at least got us thinking about winning again."