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Past Flops Don't Deter PGA Leaders Furyk, Dufner
Tiger Woeful, Mickelson Worse in Major Collapses
Late Stumble Sends Scott's PGA Title Bid Reeling
Westwood, McIlroy Back in Major Hunt after Setbacks
Furyk Grabs PGA Lead
ROCHESTER, August 11, 2013 (AFP) - Jim Furyk sank long putts on the final two holes to grab a one-stroke lead over fellow American Jason Dufner after Saturday's third round of the PGA Championship.
Furyk, whose lone major title came at the 2003 US Open, made a 14-foot birdie putt at the 17th hole and sank a 10-foot par putt from the greenside fringe at the 18th to finish a two-under par 68 and stand on nine-under par 201 after 54 holes at Oak Hill Country Club.
"That was big," Furyk said of his par save. "It's a nice way to finish the day."
Dufner was one stroke back on 202 with Sweden's Henrik Stenson on 203, Swede Jonas Blixt fourth on 204 after the day's only bogey-free round at 66, and Masters champion Adam Scott sharing fifth with American Steve Stricker on 205.
Defending champion Rory McIlroy and England's Lee Westwood, seeking his first major title in his 62nd try after a fistful of near misses, were together in seventh on 207.
Furyk went bogey-bogey at the second and third holes but adjusted his putting stroke and bounced back with birdies at the par-5 fourth, then the eighth, 10th and 12th holes and after a bogey at the par-3 14th he birdied 17.
"The greens are a touch faster," Furyk said. "After those bogeys I told myself, 'I've got to readjust the machine from here on.' From there, it didn't really bother me."
Furyk owned the 54-hole lead in four tournaments last year but did not win any of them. His last victory came in the 2010 US PGA Tour Championship.
A day after Dufner torched a rain-soaked layout for a 63 to match the lowest round in major golf history, he could only manage a 71 in perfect conditions -- and even that required a six-foot par putt at 18 to curl around and drop in the back of the cup after rolling past the right edge.
"The putter let me down a little bit," Dufner said. "I've got to work on my pace. I'm leaving a lot of these putts short."
Dufner, who squandered a four-shot lead with four holes to play at the 2011 PGA Championship, led by two when the day began but took a double bogey at the fifth and followed a birdie at the seventh with a bogey at eight, then began the back nine with a birdie and parred his way in.
"There were a couple times when I was a little frustrated with things, a little perturbed, but you have to keep your head out there," Dufner said.
"It's important to stay even keeled for the most part. You have got to let things go in these majors and just plod along out there."
Stenson put himself in the fight for the lead with birdies at 13 and 14 but a bogey at 15 dropped him back.
"It was definitely trickier today," Stenson said. "We got a lot of breeze. It was tricky to know where it was coming from."
Blixt opened and closed his round with birdies, adding two others at the fifth and ninth holes. But his most epic shot came at the 18th when he put the ball off the tee into a spectator's hip pocket and went on to birdie the hole.
"It was very fortunate that he was standing where he was so I didn't have to deal with too many trees and stuff like that," Blixt said. "Hit a good 5-iron. I didn't know how to stop it and I tried to get it as close as possible to the pin. Got a lucky bounce up the hill and trickled to three feet."
Blixt won last month at the US PGA Greenbrier Classic to earn a berth into the year's final major.
Westwood liked his chances on Sunday after leading on the last day at last month's British Open but losing at Muirfield.
"Anything is possible on the last Sunday of a major," Westwood said. "I'm definitely hitting the ball better than I was at Murfield."
McIlroy, who has struggled much of the year, battled into contention with a birdie-birdie finish on a day when Oak Hill played havoc with much of the field.
"I probably made up three, three and a half shots on those last two holes," McIlroy said. "I've got another 18 to play and hopefully I can keep playing the way I am."
Oak Hill took its toll on hopefuls, however.
US Open champion Justin Rose of England fired a 77 to stand on 211. Matt Kuchar fired a 76 to land on level par. Spain's Sergio Garcia and Aussie Marcus Fraser stumbled back with 75s. Germany's Martin Kaymer shot 78 to finish on 214. England's Ian Poulter shot a 77 to land on 218.
World number one Tiger Woods fired a three-over par 73 for 214, dooming his bid for a 15th major title.
Second-ranked Phil Mickelson, who won the British Open three weeks ago, struggled to a 78 -- matching his worst-ever PGA Championship round.
Past Flops Don't Deter PGA Leaders Furyk, Dufner
ROCHESTER, August 11, 2013 (AFP) - Jim Furyk led four times after 54 holes last year and never won. Jason Dufner led the 2011 PGA Championship by four shots with four holes to play and lost.
But the Americans are in the final pairing in Sunday's last round of the PGA Championship at Oak Hill, each hoping to put past failures and the choker label behind them.
Furyk leads on nine-under par 201 after a two-under 68 on Saturday with Dufner one shot back after shooting 71. Only four other players are inside six shots of Furyk, who like Dufner is known for a stoic, grim visage on the course.
"There's a lot of pressure. Me and Jim hide it pretty well," Dufner said. "Guys deal with it differently. I think it just comes from your personalities."
Furyk, the 2003 US Open champion, has not won any title since the 2010 US PGA Tour Championship, although he came close many times last year. He held a 54-hole lead at the US Open that led to a share of fourth.
"I'm not going to try to do that much different. Hopefully I perform better," Furyk said. "Hopefully down the stretch I stay within myself and hit some good shots. I need to get myself to the stretch playing well and hopefully with an opportunity to win."
At 43, Furyk has heard plenty of naysayers warn that his major chances are running out, but Phil Mickelson won last month's British Open at the same age.
"You are going to get beat up in this game a little bit. You have to forget about it," Furyk said.
"I'm not in the grave yet. I'm going to have more opportunities ahead of me, in my mind. I'm going to have fun with it and enjoy the opportunity."
Last year's opportunities do not linger for Furyk.
"They are gone. I've made peace with that," he said. "Hopefully what I do is draw from that experience. I'm a more mature player now and hopefully I draw some positives from it. I'm a better person and better player for it."
Dufner's late PGA collapse two years ago at Atlanta Athletic Club ended in a playoff loss to Keegan Bradley after he led the field by four shots, and Bradley by five, with four holes to play.
"It was a tough situation," Dufner said. "I was young, new to doing the majors. That was the third or fourth major I played in. Hopefully the experience I've had since then will pull me through and give me a chance to win."
Dufner learned a valuable lesson with that failure.
"Patience is of the utmost importance on a Sunday in a major," he said. "A lot of guys have a chance to win this. It's a tough course. You don't have to play perfect to win these events. You are never really out of it. Even if you make a bogey or two, you can always come back and have a chance to win on the back nine."
Dufner has had a couple of near-misses on the 18th hole, leaving a 12-foot putt for the first round of 62 in major golf history 18 inches short on Friday, then having a two-foot par putt Saturday roll past the right side of the cup before curling back to drop in.
"Fortunate to have a ball on 18 kind of sneak in the back side of the cup for a par," Dufner said. "I definitely thought I missed it as it went by the hole. Gravity took over and it was perfect speed to fall in that back lip."
Tiger Woeful, Mickelson Worse in Major Collapses
ROCHESTER, August 10, 2013 (AFP) - World number one Tiger Woods and second-ranked Phil Mickelson stumbled across Oak Hill on Saturday in the third round of the PGA Championship, dooming dreams of a major title fightback.
Woods, a 14-time major champion chasing the record 18 major titles won by Jack Nicklaus, fired a three-over par 73 to stand on four-over 214 while Mickelson matched his worst of 81 PGA Championship rounds with a 78.
"It was hard for me. I didn't play very well," Woods said. "I didn't hit it very good, didn't make anything, kept blocking every putt. So it was a tough day."
Woods, who has not won a major since the 2008 US Open, made bogeys at the first and third holes, birdied the par-3 11th but then made bogeys at 16 and 17 and needed a 10-foot putt to save par at the 18th.
"I didn't start off very good and I didn't finish very good," Woods said. "In the middle part I was grinding just to kind of hang in there around par.
"It's just one of those weeks where I didn't quite hit it well enough and didn't make enough putts."
A week after taking his fifth title of the year at a World Golf Championship event, Woods spent plenty of time in the thick rough on a course where he endured his second-worst 72-hole pro finish in a major, a share of 39th at the 2003 PGA Championship.
"It's a fantastic golf course," Woods said. "Unfortunately I just haven't put it together at the right time.
"That's golf. We don't play well every week. Unfortunately I happened to get that this week."
While he has shined in regular PGA Tour events, Woods has struggled in the majors, a shadow of the once-mighty form that saw him dominate golf's Grand Slam events a decade ago.
Woods had an emergency session with swing coach Sean Foley on Friday night at the driving range but it didn't show many benefits Saturday.
"I just haven't got my takeaway right. It's off," Woods said. "Consequently the whole patterning is off. Just one of those weeks where it's just a fraction off, and a fraction off on a setup like this, it's going to cost me.
"When I do it right, I hit some sweet shots. And when I do it wrong, I'm struggling. Today for some reason I kept blocking every putt. I burned a few edges out there and it just wasn't quite right."
Asked if he might be pressing to hard to end his five-year major drought as he faces a 38th birthday in December in another year without a major win, Woods pointed to being in contention in half of his 18 majors since last winning.
"Pressing it? Yeah, at times when I'm underneath the trees and I'm in bunkers and trying to get up-and-down," Woods said.
"As far as overall game plan and the way I'm playing, I've been there in enough of these things where I've been right there in the back nine on Sunday with a chance. As far as that's concerned, no."
As poorly as Woods played, British Open champion Mickelson played worse to stand 74th of 75 players who made the cut.
Mickelson birdied the third hole but lipped out on a 3-foot bogey putt at the par-5 fourth and took a triple bogey 7 at seven after finding the trees and rough.
Another bogey came at the ninth and although he answered with a birdie at the 12th, Mickelson followed with a double bogey at 14, a bogey at 15 and ended his day with back-to-back bogeys.
Late Stumble Sends Scott's PGA Title Bid Reeling
ROCHESTER, August 11, 2013 (AFP) - Australia's Adam Scott was grinding out pars to stay on the heels of the leaders in Saturday's third round of the PGA Championship when a double bogey blunder cost him dearly.
The reigning Masters champion needed three shots from the rough after hitting a tree at Oak Hill's par-4 16th hole, then two-putted from 18 feet for double bogey, made a 15-foot par putt at 17 and parred 18 for a two-over par 72.
Scott, the first Aussie to capture a green jacket with his first major win at Augusta National, stood on five-under 205 after 54 holes at the $8 million major tournament, four shots behind US co-leaders Jim Furyk and Jason Dufner.
"I was grinding all day," Scott said. "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.
"Seventeen was a great way to hang in there and made a four out of nowhere really and gave myself a chance to have a good round tomorrow and maybe post a number."
Scott can take some consolation from the fact that no major winner this year has played in the final group, so lurking in the chase group is not a bad place to be on Sunday.
"I'm just hanging around. I'm not really doing anything out there," Scott said. "That's why 16 is disappointing. To lose a couple hurts."
Dufner squandered a four-shot lead with four holes to play at the 2011 PGA Championship just as Scott did at the 2012 British Open. And Furyk, the 2003 US Open winner, led four times after 54 holes last year but did not win once.
"Four back is well within reach," Scott said. "Anything can happen in a major. We saw the pin spots get very 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.
"If I get off to a good start tomorrow, I feel like my game is in good enough shape where I can carry that through," Scott said.
"Hopefully I just go out and find a little better rhythm with my swing tomorrow. Hopefully today was my day off and I come back really sharp."
Scott wants to work on his putting as well.
"You have got to stand up and hit the best putt you can every time," he said. "I've got to hit more good ones."
He vows to be ready for the pressure of the difficult 18th hole on Sunday even though there are two groups behind him.
"You have got to build yourself up to stand there and know this is maybe your last shot at the tournament. It can all slip away," Scott said. "Eighteen is no pushover. Hit a bad drive and bogey is staring you right in the face. You have got to stand there and hit the putt like it is the last one to win the tournament."
Westwood, McIlroy Back in Major Hunt after Setbacks
ROCHESTER, August 11, 2013 (AFP) - England's Lee Westwood has himself in contention for a major title once again at the PGA Championship after a near miss at last month's British Open.
And who should be his playing partner in Sunday's final round at Oak Hill but defending champion Rory McIlroy, whose year of struggles could end with another major win.
Westwood and Northern Ireland's McIlroy each finished 54 holes on three-under par 207, six strokes off the pace of US leader Jim Furyk, the 2003 US Open champion. McIlroy fired a three-under 67. Westwood shot 68.
But Westwood knows all too well that such gaps can be closed in the final round. He enjoyed the lead entering the final round three weeks ago at Muirfield before a late charge gave US star Phil Mickelson the title.
"You don't know what's going to happen in the last round of a major," Westwood said. "You saw what happened when I had the lead in the last major and Phil was four, five behind, so anything is possible on the Sunday of a major."
Westwood has 61 major starts, the most of any active player never to have won a major, and has 16 top-10 finishes, half of them top-three finishes.
He stays with his basic game plan, tweaking his swing with coach Sean Foley, and waits for the day when a major crown will be his.
"My game is a strong game, getting better every day," he said. "I'm pleased with the work I'm doing with Sean and feel like I'm getting more control on the golf ball. And the work I'm doing on the greens as well, I feel like I'm putting a good roll on it."
McIlroy has been working on his game as well since an equipment change to new sponsor Nike and a light early season schedule led to a season of struggles, his lone bright spot a runner-up showing at the Texas Open.
"It's getting there," McIlroy said. "It was good to feel the sort of rush again. I felt it a bit in San Antonio this year. I had a good chance to win there, and I holed some pretty good putts coming down the stretch. It was great to feel that."
McIlroy finished with back-to-back birdies, an impressive feat with 17 the hardest hole on offer at Oak Hill.
"Making a birdie on 17 is like an eagle and then to follow it up with another on the last is even better," McIlroy said.
"I wouldn't say that was my best ball-striking round out there by any means, but I got it up and down when I needed to and that was the most important thing."
McIlroy also recalled firing a final-round 62 at Quail Hollow in 2010 to win his first US PGA Tour title with a late charge.
"It gives me a bit confidence knowing that I've been in that position before and I've been able to win," McIlroy said. "I know this is a major championship and it's a bit different, but I felt good enough about my game that I could go out there and post a good one and at least give myself a chance."
Collated scores after Saturday's third round of the $8 million PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club (par 70):
201 - Jim Furyk (USA) 65-68-68
202 - Jason Dufner (USA) 68-63-71
203 - Henrik Stenson (SWE) 68-66-69
204 - Jonas Blixt (SWE) 68-70-66
205 - Steve Stricker (USA) 68-67-70, Adam Scott (AUS) 65-68-72
207 - Rory McIlroy (NIR) 69-71-67, Lee Westwood (ENG) 66-73-68
208 - Dustin Johnson (USA) 72-71-65, Kevin Streelman (USA) 70-72-66, Roberto Castro (USA) 68-69-71
209 - Marc Warren (SCO) 74-67-68, David Toms (USA) 71-69-69, Zach Johnson (USA) 69-70-70, Bill Haas (USA) 68-70-71, David Lynn (ENG) 69-69-71, Charley Hoffman (USA) 69-67-73, Webb Simpson (USA) 72-64-73, Robert Garrigus (USA) 67-68-74, Matt Kuchar (USA) 67-66-76
210 - Marc Leishman (AUS) 70-70-70, Francesco Molinari (ITA) 72-68-70, Ryo Ishikawa (JPN) 69-71-70, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA) 68-71-71, Rickie Fowler (USA) 70-68-72, Scott Piercy (USA) 67-71-72, Jason Day (AUS) 67-71-72
211 - Luke Guthrie (USA) 71-71-69, Scott Jamieson (SCO) 69-72-70, Boo Weekley (USA) 72-69-70, Michael Thompson (USA) 72-67-72, Marcus Fraser (AUS) 67-69-75, Justin Rose (ENG) 68-66-77
212 - Rafael Cabrera-Bello (ESP) 68-75-69, K.J. Choi (KOR) 76-65-71, Graeme McDowell (NIR) 70-69-73, Sergio Garcia (ESP) 69-68-75
213 - Brandt Snedeker (USA) 70-73-70, Ken Duke (USA) 75-68-70, David Hearn (CAN) 66-76-71, Josh Teater (USA) 71-71-71, Brendon De Jonge (ZIM) 71-71-71, Keegan Bradley (USA) 69-72-72, Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) 72-68-73, Ryan Moore (USA) 69-71-73, Chris Kirk (USA) 71-69-73, Paul Casey (ENG) 67-72-74
214 - Ryan Palmer (USA) 73-70-71, Brooks Koepka (USA) 71-72-71, Tiger Woods (USA) 71-70-73, Martin Kaymer (GER) 68-68-78
215 - D.A. Points (USA) 73-70-72, Harris English (USA) 74-69-72, Danny Willett (ENG) 73-70-72, J.J. Henry (USA) 71-71-73, John Senden (AUS) 72-70-73, Vijay Singh (FIJ) 70-72-73, Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN) 71-70-74, Peter Hanson (SWE) 72-69-74, Matteo Manassero (ITA) 72-69-74, Tim Clark (RSA) 69-71-75, Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP) 68-72-75
216 - Matt Jones (AUS) 72-71-73, Scott Stallings (USA) 73-70-73, Tommy Gainey (USA) 69-74-73, John Merrick (USA) 75-68-73, Darren Clarke (NIR) 69-73-74, Shane Lowry (IRL) 71-70-75, Thongchai Jaidee (THA) 70-71-75, Hunter Mahan (USA) 70-68-78
217 - Ben Curtis (USA) 73-70-74
218 - Ian Poulter (ENG) 70-71-77
219 - Stephen Gallacher (SCO) 75-68-76
220 - Phil Mickelson (USA) 71-71-78
223 - Gary Woodland (USA) 73-70-80