Golf-Late birdie puts Furyk a stroke in front at Hilton Head (Reuters)
April 17, 2010
ATLANTA, April 17 (Reuters) – Jim Furyk coolly rolled in an11-foot birdie putt at the last to break one shot clear of acongested leaderboard in Saturday’s third round of the HeritageClassic in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
With the ocean breezes tugging at his trousers, the Americanworld number six watched as his ball dropped into the cup tocompete a flawless four-under-par 67 before tipping his cap toacknowledge the applause of the crowd.
In pursuit of his second PGA Tour title in five weeks, Furykposted an 11-under total of 202 with Britain’s Brian Davis alonein second place after shooting a 66 at the scenic Harbour TownGolf Links.
American Heath Slocum, who had been one stroke in frontplaying the last, double-bogeyed the 18th for a 67 to finish ina seven-way tie for third at nine under.
Level with Slocum were his compatriots Boo Weekley (68),Briny Baird (66), Ricky Barnes (66) and Woody Austin (67),Canadian Stephen Ames (65) and Britain’s Luke Donald (67).
Furyk began the day in a three-way tie for the lead withAmerican Charles Howell III and Britain’s Greg Owen but, by thetime he teed off, he had slipped to fourth place as the earlierstarters posted low scores.
Out in one-under-par 35, Furyk stayed in contention byrecording birdies at the 11th and 13th and narrowly missedfurther birdie opportunities on 15 and 17 before signing offwith a flourish at the par-four last.
FEELING GOOD
“It all feels pretty good,” the 2003 U.S. Open champion saidin a greenside interview. “I got off to a slow start with myball-striking today and hit some irons that weren’t so crispearly on.
“But I made some good up-and-downs, kept myself in the gameand then down the stretch is probably the best I have hit it allweek.”
Furyk, who ended a PGA Tour title drought of almost threeyears with a one-shot victory at last month’s Tampa BayChampionship, never felt pressured by the tightly packedleaderboard.
“I realised it’s a long day and we still had 36 holes togo,” the 39-year-old said. “My goal really wasn’t to worry aboutwhether I was leading the golf tournament or where I was at.
“There were 20 of us bunched within two shots so we were allbasically leading the golf tournament. The idea was to go out,shoot a good number and put myself in position for tomorrow. AndI’ve done that.”
Furyk, seeking his 15th PGA Tour title, will go intoSunday’s final round with 12 players in hot pursuit and withinthree strokes of the lead.
(Writing by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing byKen Ferris; To query or comment on this story emailsportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
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