Russell Knox and Duncan Stewart recovered from their damaging opening round in the ISPS Handa World Cup of Golf with a 13-shot improvement in the fourballs at Kingston Heath in Australia.

The Scottish duo, who had sagged to a 78 in the foursomes, bounced back with a purposeful seven-under 65 which lifted them off the bottom of the leaderboard with a one-under tally of 143.

In a low-scoring session, it was Denmark who seized control as the pairing of Soren Kjeldsen and Thorbjorn Olesen opened fired a brilliant 60 to opne up a three shot lead.

The duo had carded a level-par 72 in Thursday's foursomes to trail Spain by three shots overnight but two eagles and eight birdies gave them a 12 under par total and a comfortable cushion over Ashun Wu and Li Haotong of China heading into the weekend.

The action will return to foursomes on Saturday before finishing with another round of fourballs on the final day as Denmark look to lift the trophy for the first time in Melbourne.

China fired a 65 on Friday to get to nine under, a shot clear of Spanish pair Rafa Cabrera Bello and John Rahm, who signed for a second-round 67.

Kjeldsen got the ball rolling for the Danes when he holed from the fairway on the third for an eagle and two birdies followed before Olesen chipped in on the eighth to pick up two more shots.

A run of five birdies then started the back nine before a Kjeldsen gain on the last completed a brilliant performance.

"I feel like we both were playing well," Olesen said. "We kept the ball in play all the time and Soren got it started by holing that second shot. It was amazing.

"Then I chipped in for eagle as well. We did very well today."

Kjeldsen added: "I think game-wise we're very different. Thorbjorn's very flashy, he hits it very far from the tee and overall he has just got an amazing game.

"I'm sort of like a train, I arrive on time but without too much of the flashy stuff."

English duo Chris Wood Andy Sullivan were at seven under after a 66 alongside France, Italy and the United States.

Wales' Bradley Dredge and Stuart Manley were at four under, a shot clear of Ireland pair Shane Lowry and Graeme McDowell.