Venezuela have experienced contrasting fortunes in the opening two rounds, leaving the team rooted in 29th position among the 33 nations competing.

While Nick Mansell has fired two rounds in the 70s, partner Zane DeSilva has struggled, failing to break 80 on both days at the par 71 Lagunita Country Club course in Caracas.

Mansell opened with a superb 72 but DeSilva's 85 left the team with a combined score of 157. And while Mansell followed up with a 76 in the second round, DeSilva improved only marginally to card 81.

That put the Bermuda pair on 314 and ahead of just four other teams -- Ecuador, Bahamas, Chile and Panama.

Going into yesterday's third round, the 72-hole tournament was being led by the host country pair of Ernesto Amengual and Mario Maya who were on 275, two strokes ahead of Japan's Mitsunori Kaneko and Kentaro Yonekura. A further five shots back in third place on 282 were Argentina's Ernesto Rivas and Juan Pablo Abbata.

Individually, Mansell was tied for 33rd place after two rounds while DeSilva was 62nd out of the 66 competitors.

The tournament winds up today, but Mansell won't arrive back in time to defend his amateur title at the Belmont Invitation on Monday.