PGA 3rd round: Furyk leads, Scott four behind

Jim Furyk is closing in on his second major title but, as Brendan James reports, Adam Scott is still with a chance just four strokes back.

Pretty doesn’t always guarantee the first dance at the ball. In golf swing terms, it doesn’t have to look good to be great. Just ask Jim Furyk.

It’s 10 years and two months since he won his first and only major championship. That was at the 2003 US Open where he beat West Australian Stephen Leaney by three strokes at Olympia Fields. It was the coming of age for the man, who now has 26 PGA Tour victories dating back to 1995 and owns the most unusual looking swing in the game.

On a day when the Oak Hill course finally started to bare its teeth, it was Furyk’s ‘ugly’ but reliable swing that formed the cornerstone of a lead grabbing two under 68 that left him with the top spot after 54-holes at nine-under-par.

“You know the course was probably a little bit more like day one to be honest with you,” Furyk said. “It wasn't as wet as day two. The greens were still receptive, though, and that's where you can still see some scoring and some birdies because of that.

“But the fairways started drying up a little bit. I thought the greens picked up a touch of speed. Early on I hit a couple putts too hard. I three‑putted No.2 from off the green. Knocked about a 30 to 35‑footer pretty far by the hole, and then I had an 8‑footer that I knocked about four feet by and then I kind of said, whoa, hold on a second here, we need to readjust.

Furyk needed just 27 putts around the Oak Hill course in round 3. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

“The greens were a touch quicker, and I think if we continue to have nice weather, good evening, by tomorrow, it could firm up a little bit and I could see the greens starting to release a little bit. But I think the golf course will play a little tougher probably.”

While his ball-striking was ever reliable, it was the 27 putts he had for the third round – his lowest so far for the tournament – that the 43-year-old will be most pleased about.

“I felt good with my putter all week,” he said. “I felt comfortable. I hit a lot of good putts. I can't say that they have all went in, but I made my share.

“I was a little more comfortable on the golf course today. I didn't start out that way. I was a little shaky early on, the first few holes, but from 4 through 18, I really felt I had a lot of confidence in myself … I hit good shots on 4, 5 and 6, I gained a lot of confidence and felt better on the golf course than I did yesterday.”

Tomorrow, a decade on from that breakout major victory, ‘Gentleman Jim’ will have a shot at finally checking out of the ‘one major club’ with a win at the 95^th PGA Championship. Since 2003, he’s had his chances to checkout but let them slip by – most notably at the US Open in 2006, 2007 and at The Olympic Club in 2012, when he shared the lead into the final round and folded like a cheap deck chair in the closing stages of the final round to finish two shots behind winner Webb Simspon in a tie for fourth place.

When asked if winning a second major was more difficult then getting the first because of higher self expectation, Furyk said: “I don't know if it makes it any more difficult … winning any tournament is difficult. Winning any major championship is a difficult feat.”

“I guess if I'm putting heightened expectations on myself, or by what you're saying it would make it my fault,” Furyk said. “That would mean I would be approaching the situation in an improper manner, and I may have done that in the past, and I'm trying not to let that happen in the future, or in the present right now. But I'm relaxed, I'm going to enjoy tomorrow just like I had fun today.”

Furyk says this bid for a major championship title feels different. He said when he has won big events in the past his mental state was the key to success.

“Well, obviously from the physical, a lot of those days, I was firing on all cylinders,” Furyk says of the final round at Olympia Fields and the final day of the Tour Championship back in 2010. “Olympia Fields, I look back, I hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens. When I missed the green, I was able to get up‑and‑down and knocked a bunch of putts in.

“Good things were happening from a physical standpoint. I think the idea of even at the Olympic Club last year, I think that my attitude was pretty good. I think that I stayed within that moment, I never got a head of myself, and I always concentrated on what I needed to do on the second shot. Didn't let a bad swing bother me and really didn't get too emotional over the day, good or bad.

“You know, I think the effort of that, I've been relaxed this week and felt very calm out there, and even when I have hit good shots, I really haven't let it bother me at all, and that's why on a bad start today, I was able to come back and turn it into a good round.

“Part of it, I was firing on all cylinders and knew I was playing well, but from the mental state and the way I treated the day and treated each shot, was probably the key in why I won those events.”

And, he believes at Oak Hill mental application will be the key to winning … that and self-belief.

“People always ask, would you rather be one ahead or one back. Well, I'd rather be one ahead. There's going to be a winning score tomorrow, and whatever that score is, it means I don't have to shoot as low as everyone else, if that makes sense,” he smiled.

“I'm comfortable with where I'm at. There's a crowded leaderboard at the top and instead of really viewing it as who is leading and who is not, I'm really viewing it as I need to go out there tomorrow and put together a good, solid round of golf, fire a good number and hope it stacks up well.”

Furyk will play in the final group with second-round leader Jason Dufner, who followed up his course record 63 with a one over 71 and is a shot back of Furyk at eight under.

Sweden's Henrik Stenson is aiming to become his country's first male major champion. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

The winner of each of the first three majors of the season has come from outside the final group. The penultimate group for the final round will be an all Swedish affair with Henrik Stenson (69, seven under) and Jonas Blixt (66, six under) both aiming to become the first male golfer from the Scandinavian nation to win a major championship.

“Whether it be the first Swede – at this point it would be the same as winning my first major championship,” Stenson said. “But yeah, it would be lovely. But we're still a long ways away from that. There's no point thinking about tomorrow and thinking ahead of things. It's all about going out and doing the same things.

“It's going to be a big challenge again tomorrow to keep the mind in the right place, and if I can do that, I hope I can have a chance on the back nine.

“But it's a pretty packed leaderboard. There's going to be a few guys with a good chance, so there's no point thinking about the future. It's about thinking about the shots I'm going to play and how to play them.”

One player who knows the feeling of winning a first major for their country is Masters champion Adam Scott, who had an ice cold long putter for most of his third round and made a double bogey at the par-4 16^th to fall to five under and four shots behind Furyk.

The Queenslander opened strongly with a birdie but cheap bogies at the 2^nd and 3^rd holes had Scott thinking more conservatively. He then carded ten straight pars as one birdie put after another rolled tantalisingly close to the edge of the cup.

On the short par-4 14^th Scott made an aggressive play in a bid to get kick-start his round. Scott took driver from the tee and blasted his ball onto the green to about 18 feet from the flag. The two-putt birdie moved him in the right direction and within a shot of the lead again but not for long as a few loose shots made it tough going for Scott closing out the round.

“I was grinding hard, unfortunately. I bit off more than I could chew at 16 and made a bad mental error. It wasn't really going my way out there with much today. I was grinding all day to be honest,” Scott said.

Adam Scott mis-hits his drive into the right rough on the 16th hole and finishes with a double bogey on the hole. He goes into the final round, four shots behind Furyk. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Despite dropping four shots back of the lead, Scott remains buoyant that he can be in the mix late in the final round.

“It's not quite as good as I would like to be. I would like to be leading. But four back is well within reach,” the 33-year-old said. “Mickelson ended up winning the Open quite easily being four back. Anything can happen in a major.

“We just saw the pin spots get tough today and scoring in the final groups was very difficult. With so much danger around, it's hard to be completely free with major pressure on the line.

“Tomorrow is going to be similar. If I get off to a good start, I feel like my game is in good enough shape where I can carry that through and shoot a number.”

Two players who won’t be figuring at the top of the leaderboard on the final day are World No.1 and No.2 Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson respectively.

Scott makes a vital par-saving putt on the 17th hole to stay at five under par and in touch with the leaders. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Mickelson, who won at Muirfield just three weeks ago, was next-to-last among the 75 players making the cut after an ugly 78 left him at 10 over. Lefty had a triple bogey at the 7th, then a double-bogey at the short 14th when he chipped through the green twice.

Woods’ seven stroke victory at Firestone last week is now a distant memory as he struggled again to fire and will have to wait until next year before he adds to his haul of 14 major titles.

Woods will start 2014 zero victories from 18 majors since his last win at the 2008 U.S. Open.

"Well," he said, "it was hard to me. I didn't played very well today. I didn't hit it very good, didn't make anything, kept blocking every putt. So it was a tough day."

THIRD ROUND LEADERBOARD

1. Jim Furyk (US) 65-68-68– 201

2. Jason Dufner (US) 68-63-71–202

3. Henrik Stenson (Swe) 68-66-69–203

4. Jonas Blixt (Swe) 68-70-66–204

T5. Steve Stricker (US) 68-67-70–205

T5. Adam Scott (Qld) 65-68-72–205

T7. Rory McIlory (N.Ire) 69-71-67–207

T7. Lee Westwood (Eng) 66-73-68–207

T9. Dustin Johnson (US) 72-71-65–208

T9. Roberto Castro (US) 68-69-71–208

T9. Kevin Streelman (US) 70-72-66–208