Reuters
Friday, December 8

BELLA VISTA, Argentina -- The fans came to see Tiger, but the homegrown Argentine duo of the Duck and the Cat snared the adoration of the gallery and a share of the lead Friday on the second day of the EMC World Cup.

	Tiger Woods and David Duval played a bogey-free round during Friday's alternate shot.

Argentina's Angel "The Duck" Cabrera and Eduardo "The Cat" Romero overshadowed world No. 1 Tiger Woods by ringing up a 67 in alternate-shot play, good enough for a two-day score of 20-under 124 and a share of the lead before a rowdy home crowd at the Buenos Aires Golf Club.

New Zealand's Frank Nobilo and Greg Turner stayed even with Argentina at the top of the leaderboard in the event, which pits 24 countries against each other and offers $3 million in total prizes.

Argentina and New Zealand had shared the lead after Thursday's first round.

But the U.S. team of Woods and David Duval lurked in third place at 18-under after a solid second round of 65. The duo notched birdies on five of six holes on one stretch of the back nine -- including four in a row.

"I thought we played beautifully today," Woods said. "The bad shots we did hit, the other one bailed us out. I actually hit the ball a little bit better today, which was nice.

"All I had to do was hit the ball on the flat surface and (Duval) would make the putt."

Both Duval and Woods looked visibly looser than during Thursday's round, when Woods especially appeared perturbed with his short games and the vocal gallery.

While the U.S. gallery boasted the larger number of followers, the crowd trailing Cabrera and Romero made up in noise what it lacked in size, rambunctiously cheering on the local pair.

The two Argentines doffed their hats to the local crowd and jumped up and down with the gallery after eagling the par-5 ninth hole.

"No Tigers here -- only Ducks and Cats!" yelled a spectator after Cabrera teed off on the 14th hole.

Australia's Peter O'Malley and Lucas Parsons are in fourth place at 16-under, while teams from Paraguay and Ireland lingered in fifth place, both at 14-under.

Saturday's third round of play will revert back to the best-ball format used in the first round on Thursday. The final round Sunday will be alternate shot.