SEA ISLAND, Georgia, Oct 20, 2012 (AFP) - Love, who served as the US Ryder Cup captain, and Furyk, who was on the US team that fell at Medinah, each fired four-under par 66s in the third round of the $4 million event to stand atop the leaderboard at 13-under par 197.
India's Arjun Atwal and American D.J. Trahan shared third on 199 with Bud Cauley of the United States another stroke adrift in quest of a $720,000 top prize from the penultimate event of the US PGA campaign.
The event is aimed at players seeking to crack the top 125 on the season's money list and thereby claim a tour spot for 2013.
Atwal, who led by one stroke when the day began but fired a 69, needs a solo second-place finish or better this week to reach the top 125 for the season.
Furyk, ninth on the money list, made back-to-back birdies at the second and third holes, added another at the par-3 sixth and began the back nine with a birdie before closing with eight pars.
Furyk, 42, has seven top-10 finishes this season but still seeks his first title since the 2010 Tour Championship. He has 16 career US PGA crowns.
Love, 48, seeks his 21st career PGA victory and his first since 2008. His best result this season was a share of third at Memphis.
Love answered a bogey at the fourth with a birdie on the next hole and then added back-to-back birdies at the par-5 seventh and par-4 eighth. He birdied the 11th, stumbled to a bogey at 13 but responded with a birdie at the par-5 15th before sinking his clutch putt at 18 to grab a share of the lead.
Defending champion Ben Crane of the United States fired a 62 to join a group sharing sixth on 201 that included South Africa's Rory Sabbatini and Australian Mathew Goggin.
"Worked on the putting and found a little something that helped," Crane said. "I started making 15 or 20 footers. Didn't really hit it close. Just kept making putts from the other side of the green. All in all it was a great day."
Leading third-round scores on Saturday from the US PGA Tour $4 million McGladrey Classic (USA unless noted, par-70):
197 - Jim Furyk 66-65-66, Davis Love 65-66-66
199 - D.J. Trahan 66-67-66, Arjun Atwal (IND) 67-63-69
200 - Bud Cauley 62-70-68
201 - Will Claxton 70-66-65, Rory Sabbatini (RSA) 69-65-67, Mathew Goggin (AUS) 67-66-68, Ben Crane 68-71-62, Charles Howell 66-68-67
202 - Kyle Reifers 67-68-67, Peter Tomasulo 67-67-68, Vijay Singh (FIJ) 66-68-68, Chad Campbell 66-67-69, Michael Thompson 65-68-69, Brian Gay 65-68-69, Gavin Coles (AUS) 67-65-70, David Toms 65-67-70
203 - Billy Horschel 68-69-66, Harris English 71-66-66, Mark Wilson 68-69-66, Daniel Chopra (SWE) 68-69-66, Ben Curtis 68-69-66, David Mathis 69-69-65, Joe Durant 65-71-67, Brendon de Jonge (ZIM) 66-69-68, Ken Duke 67-68-68, Roberto Castro 69-66-68