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A front-nine 28 and a sizzling 62 help put Furyk in BMW lead after grueling day(St. Louis Post-Dispatch (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) ST. LOUIS _ There was but a hint of sunshine left in the overcast skies above the 18th green at the BMW Championship on Saturday evening as third-round leader Jim Furyk lined up over his last putt of the day. Furyk painstakingly studied the last 5 feet of his rather successful 12-hour, 36-hole adventure around Bellerive Country Club as if there just might be a trap door lurking somewhere in front of the hole. So Furyk stood over it for a moment, backed off it for a second, then studied it some more. He fidgeted and fussed and inspected that little piece of sod for an eternity. At one point he even seemed to be pointing out to his caddie that there was a wayward blade of grass sticking up like a bothersome cowlick directly in the path of his ball. This is exactly what you're supposed to do when your day has gone as well as Furyk's. This is precisely how he should have acted after spending more than 12 hours on this rugged course, lighting up the place with a competitive course-record 8-under-par 62 in the morning (including a sizzling 7-under-par 28 on the front nine). So Furyk treated this last putt like it was the most important shot of the day, which in so many ways it was. These 5 feet were the difference between a bogey to maintain a share of the tournament lead or a maddening double bogey to blow it. So as the ball rolled pure and clean, then rattled into the cup, it was the sweetest sight of the day for Furyk, matched only by the sight over his shoulder of that big color TV leaderboard that told him he was about to walk off the golf course for the first time in more than a year with a tournament lead in his possession. "You know that 5-footer probably had a couple of breaks on it and that pin was in a difficult position," Furyk said in explaining his endless deliberation over the ball. "I just kind of ground out that last nine (holes), and that's when it's easy to make those mental mistakes. When you're tired, your mind wanders for a little bit, and all of a sudden you hit a shot and you're going, 'What was I doing there?' So what I was doing there was really trying to stay focused. "? I was able to still walk away with a smile knowing I played well." Furyk didn't just play well. At times he played positively out of his mind. The world's 13th-ranked golfer is actually having a bad year by his standards. After climbing to as high as No. 2 and No. 3 in the world in 2006 and 2007, he has yet to win a tour event in 2008. But on Saturday, he set the table for that breakthrough victory by ripping through Bellerive with almost unconscious ease. Starting the day on the back nine, he played one hole in the second round before being called off the course for over an hour because of a thick fog over the course. When he got back on the course, Furyk put on a show. After a 1-under 34, he hit the front nine with a fury. He eagled the par-4 second, then finished off the round with five consecutive birdies for that championship course-record nine-hole 28. About 25 minutes later, he was back on the course for the third round, and with first-round leader Camilo Villegas lurking all day, Furyk barely cooled off, shooting a 4-under 66 in the third round to stay in the lead. A day before, Furyk had talked about what 36 holes on the spongy Bellerive zoysia fairways might do to his 38-year-old legs. But Furyk did not buckle at the end of the long day, despite the bogey on 18. "There's no excuses," he said. "We all play 36 a lot. We're definitely making too much out of walking around a golf course. "? I mean we are supposed to be athletes." So Sunday's final round should be a testament to survival of the fittest, and Furyk, the lanky athlete, will have to prove that both physically and mentally he's that guy. "I haven't played poorly this year, but I also haven't put myself in position to win as often as I would have in the past," he said. "But I would say now that I am more focused "? I'm more comfortable." As he reached down to pick his ball out of the cup at 18 and glanced back at that gleaming leaderboard that flashed his name on top of the other 68 names in the field, Furyk doffed his cap to the crowd and marched off the course comfortable as could be, eager to come back Sunday for one more crack at taming Bellerive. ___ (c) 2008, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Visit the Post-Dispatch on the World Wide Web at http://www.stltoday.com/ Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. _____ PHOTO (from MCT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): BMW For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. Copyright ? 2008 St. Louis Post-Dispatch |