Rose and Poulter England favourites

MISSION HILLS – The red-hot English pairing of Justin Rose and Ian Poulter are raging favourites for team success in the 28-nation Omega World Cup that tees off tomorrow.

They enter the five million US dollars tournament with their confidence sky high after Rose triumphed in the recent Volvo Masters to clinch the number one spot on the European Tour for the first time. Poulter, meanwhile, held off a strong field to win the Dunlop Phoenix in Japan at the weekend.The duo, firm friends off the course, will be bidding to add their names to a trophy that was won by England as recently as 2004 when Paul Casey and Luke Donald were victorious in Spain.”Ian and I go way back and to have the chance to represent my country with one of my good friends is going to be exciting,” said Rose, who was joint third and second in 2002 and 2003 respectively partnered by Casey.”The friendship that we have will hopefully create the right atmosphere for us to play good golf – that’s what we are hoping for anyway.”Nampa-AFPPoulter, meanwhile, held off a strong field to win the Dunlop Phoenix in Japan at the weekend.The duo, firm friends off the course, will be bidding to add their names to a trophy that was won by England as recently as 2004 when Paul Casey and Luke Donald were victorious in Spain.”Ian and I go way back and to have the chance to represent my country with one of my good friends is going to be exciting,” said Rose, who was joint third and second in 2002 and 2003 respectively partnered by Casey.”The friendship that we have will hopefully create the right atmosphere for us to play good golf – that’s what we are hoping for anyway.”Nampa-AFP