St. James: South Africa, Sweden and Argentina fired seven-under par 64s here Thursday to share the lead after the opening four-ball round of the four million-dollar World Golf Championships World Cup.

South Africans Rory Sabbatini and Richard Sterne enjoyed a bogey-free day despite blustery conditions, opening and closing the back nine with birdies while taking birdies at three of four holes starting at the 12th.

The South American duo of Angel Cabrera and Andres Romero began with a bogey but followed with back-to-back birdies and made five birdies in a row starting at the 12th to grab a share of the lead.

Swedes Carl Pettersson and Henrik Stenson, in the penultimate group, opened with a par but birdied the other four odd-numbered holes on the front side and added two more on the back before three concluding pars to equal the leaders.

Defending champions Bradley Dredge and Stephen Dodd of Wales, and Germany, represented by two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer and Marcel Siem, were next on 65.

Ryder Cup heroes Luke Donald and David Howell of England and South Koreans SK Ho and Charlie Wi matched the US tandem of J.J. Henry and Stewart Cink on 66 entering Friday's foursomes in the 72-hole event.

"Tommorow is going to be interesting with alternate shot," Ireland's Paul McGinley said.

"There are going to be some mistakes. As tough as the course is playing, it's going to be tricky," he said.

Henry and Cink, in the absence of such US stars as Tiger Woods, will try to bring the Americans the trophy for the first time since 2000.

"The course was pretty receptive but there was a lot of wind out there," Henry said.

 "We didn't play our best but we're still a couple strokes behind. We're in a pretty good position and there is still a lot of golf to play,"  he said.

With Caribbean rain and wind battering players most of the day, most were satisfied with whatever they could manage.

"It was the worst conditions I have ever played in for about 30 minutes," Cink said.

"It was really tough in stages," McGinley said.

 "There was such a shower on the fifth hole. Ireland at its worst never had a shower like that,"  he said.

Irishmen McGinley and Padraig Harrington, World Cup winners back in 1997, were on 67 alongside Scotland, Colombia and Japan.