MELBOURNE, Nov 27 — Thorbjorn Olesen and Soren Kjeldsen proved the perfect blend of flamboyant youth and wily experience as they completed a shock triumph for Denmark at the World Cup of Golf in Melbourne yesterday.

The pair displayed tremendous poise under pressure to hold off  a flurry of strong challengers by four strokes to accomplish the biggest feat in Denmark’s golfing history in the strokeplay team competition.

Denmark turned into the back nine at Kingston Heath with their four-shot overnight lead cut to just one, as a host of countries — including joint runners-up China, France and the US — queued up and waited for a stumble that never materialised.

The enigmatic 26-year-old Olesen and his veteran 41-year-old partner Kjeldsen instead played flawless fourball (better ball) golf as they made six birdies on the back nine to finish with a six-under 66 and a 20-under par total of 268 to win by four strokes for their first ever World Cup triumph.

When Olesen secured the historic trophy with a birdie on the 18th, he raised his fist to the crowd before embracing his team-mate Kjeldsen. — AFP