Australia put themselves into a share of the lead with Spain following a nine-under-par 63 in the third round fourballs of the Golf World Cup at Mission Hills, China. Ireland's Graeme McDowell and Paul McGinley maintained their impressive displays at the World Cup after a 68 that left them on 15 under.

Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez and Pablo Larrazabal had combined for a superb 63 of their own in second-round foursomes on Friday to move four strokes clear at the top of the leaderboard. Their performance was so impressive that they could have been forgiven for already contemplating having their names etched onto the World Cup Roll of Honour.

However, the Australian duo of Richard Green and Brendan Jones clearly had other ideas as they set about eating into that advantage from the very first tee.

Green shot two successive birdies from the second before Japan Tour regular Jones added three more before the turn. Green then picked up shots on the par-five 11th and 14th but Australia still trailed Spain by three strokes heading onto the final few holes.

The turning point came on the par-five 15th where Jones shot an eagle three while Larrazabal bogeyed the same hole for Spain.

Jones then sank a birdie putt from three feet on the 18th to move Australia into a share of the lead alongside Spain with play switching back to foursomes for today's final round.

Sweden, represented by the two highest-ranked players at the tournament in Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson, are third at 18 under after a 66 today while Germany are a further stroke behind in fourth place following their 68.

Third round scores

194 Green/Jones Australia (Aus) 63 68 63, Jimenez/Larrazabal Spain (Spa) 64 63 67 198 Stenson/Karlsson Sweden (Swe) 65 67 66 199 Cejka/Kaymer Germany (Ger) 62 69 68 201 McDowell/McGinley Ireland (Irl) 65 68 68 202 Imada/ Taniguchi Japan (Jpn) 66 68 68, Curtis/ Snedeker United States (USA) 64 69 69 204 Hansen A/Hansen S Denmark (Den) 65 75 64, Pucay/Que Phillipines (Phi) 67 72 65, DeLaet/Heffernan Canada (Can) 64 71 69 Selected others 206 Poulter/ Fisher England (Eng) 69 74 63 209 Montgomerie/ Forsyth Scotland (Sco) 68 73 68 214 Dredge/Johnson Wales (Wal) 69 77 68