Third round: Furyk has hot day, third round incomplete
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Jim Furyk quietly pumped his fist when his final putt of a marathon day disappeared in the cup. Even though it was for bogey, this was cause for a small celebration Saturday at the BMW Championship.
He played 36 holes over 10 hours on a soggy course that made it feel as though he were walking through sand. He took only 128 shots, including an 8-under 62 in the second round to set the course record at Bellerive. He hit 24 consecutive fairways, a streak that ended in the twilight on the 18th hole as focus wavered and he made bogey.
Above all, he gave himself a chance to win.
"My goal was to get myself into position to win the golf tournament," Furyk said. "And I did that."
It seemed like it took forever.
The best part of this long day was that he finished, shooting 66 in the afternoon to complete 54 holes at 12-under 198 for the clubhouse lead. Camilo Villegas, who led by one shot after 36 holes with a 66 in the morning, also was at 12 under and had five holes remaining.
Villegas will be among 23 players who have to return Sunday morning to complete the third round in a tournament twice interrupted by weather. Rain kept the BMW Championship from starting until Friday, and the plan for everyone to play 36 holes on Saturday was disrupted by a 90-minute fog delay in the morning.
But it was packed with all kinds of drama.
Sergio Garcia made the first hole-in-one of his professional career, a 5-iron from 205 yards on the third hole in the morning that put him into the mix. Bart Bryant made an ace in the afternoon, on No. 13, four holes after learning he had been docked two shots in a bizarre penalty that basically amounted to him opening his mouth.
Martin Laird tamped down his own pitch mark on the fringe of the 16th green during the second round, which he was not supposed to do because it was in the line of Bryant's ball in the rough. The fact Bryant said, "Yes" when Laird asked if it was in his line meant Bryant was penalized because he allowed his line to be improved.
Laird was not disqualified because it was not his intent to help Bryant, who chipped well over the mark.
Asked if he should have been penalized, Bryant said, "Yes, because I broke the rule." He was more concerned that Laird, a rookie from Scotland who needs to finish this tournament to secure his PGA TOUR card, was not disqualified.
Crazy stuff? No doubt.
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Bart Bryant shocked his struggling third round back to life Saturday with a hole-in-one on the 184-yard, par-3 13th on his way to a 1-under 69 for the day. 
It's hard to call round of the day because the round hasn't officially finished, but of the guys who are done, K.J. Choi's 6-under 64 gets the nod. | QUOTE OF THE DAY | ||
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FINALLY, FURYK FINDS HIS COMFORT ZONE OFF THE TEE
By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM Managing Editor
ST. LOUIS -- Jim Furyk with a driver doesn't produce distance. Jim Furyk with a driver produces accuracy.
Jim Furyk with a driver this year, however, has produced merely frustration. And it's resulted in a revolving-door approach in his bag; in fact, his experimentations with his driver might have approached mad-scientist level.
But Jim Furyk with a driver on Saturday at the BMW Championship was a thing of beauty.
In playing 36 holes on a long day at Bellerive, Furyk hit 26 of 28 fairways. It was vintage Furyk, the kind of accuracy that he has displayed in winning 13 PGA TOUR events, including the 2003 U.S. Open.
At one point, in fact, Furyk hit 24 consecutive fairways. Had he hit 25, he probably would've left the course Saturday night with the lead. Instead, a missed fairway on the finishing hole put him in a tough spot in the rough, forcing him to lay up on the par-4 18th with his second shot, resulting in bogey to drop him to 12 under. That was good enough for the clubhouse lead, though, with Camilo Villegas having to finish the final five holes of his third round on Sunday morning.
But that final bogey -- coming on a day when he did little wrong, shooting a combined 12 under, including a tournament-low 62 in the second round -- just underscored the importance of finding the fairway this week. The rough at Bellerive has sprouted, thanks to the rain. Hit your drive there, and you may or may not have to hack out. While this course is long, the bomb-and-gouge mentality doesn't work here.
Instead, you must find the fairway to wreak havoc on the pins, the soft (albeit large) greens making for target practice. Furyk was Exhibit A on Saturday in that regard, especially in his second nine of the second round when he carded five birdies and an eagle on holes 1-9 to shoot himself back in the tournament.
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INSIDE THE ROPES WITH THE PGA TOUR NETWORK XM
Radio announcer Brian Katrek offers these observations from Saturday's action. Listen to PGA TOUR Live coverage on XM 146 or right here at PGATOUR.COM.
I saw St. Louis resident Jay Williamson throw out the first pitch at the Cardinals game on Friday night. The former minor league prospect threw from the rubber and fired the ball in with quite a bit of heat on it. There are have been some umpires that would have called the pitch a strike. He got a great ovation from the crowd...
With a long day on tap Saturday, the good St. Louis fans were treated to a carnival-like atmosphere at Bellerive. The smell of barbecue, chicken, hot dogs and hamburgers was in the air all day long...
Jim Furyk was four holes into his third round when he lost the 36-hole lead. Camilo Villegas made a birdie at the 18th to close out his second round and post 9 under. Furyk was already 9 under for the tournament at the time and playing the third round. Neither of the players cared, but I thought it was cool...
| 2 | Number of aces recorded on Saturday -- Sergio Garcia and Bart Bryant. Garcia's was in the second round, though. |
| 7 | Number of shots Garcia is off the lead heading into the final round. |
| 23 | Number of players who have to finish the third round on Sunday morning. |
Here's a strange prediction for you. Camilo Villegas has a Florida Gator head cover on his driver but has matching Cobra head covers on his two fairway woods. I saw him pull the wrong one out at 17 and have to change to the other one after looking at the sole plate. It seems like a lot of work when a different head cover would be an easy way to keep things straight. I think we will see Camilo with a different head cover at THE TOUR Championship. Perhaps some more Gator flair. Do they make a Tim Tebow head cover yet?
FACTS AND STATS: MORE ON FURYK AND THE ACES
Compiled by Elias Sports Bureau, Inc.
• Tommy Armour III has birdied each of the four par-5 holes he's played through the first two rounds of the BMW Championship. For Armour, who is playing in his 589th event on the PGA TOUR, it's just the third time he's birdied each of the par-5 holes he's played (minimum of 4 holes) through the first 36 holes of a TOUR event. The previous occurrences came at the 1999 Sony Open in Hawaii, the 2003 Valero Texas Open and the 2004 EDS Byron Nelson Championship.
• Sergio Garcia made his first hole-in-one on the PGA TOUR when he drained his tee shot from 203 yards on Bellerive's third hole during Saturday's second round of The BMW Championship. It's the first hole-in-one at the BMW Championship since 2004, when Lucas Glover sank a 218-yard ace on the 220-yard 12th hole at Cog Hill.
• Bart Bryant made a hole-in-one on the par-3 13th hole in the third round of the BMW Championship, the second hole-in-one of his career. Bryant's other hole-in-one came at the 1990 Phoenix Open on the 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale.
• Jim Furyk finished the second round of The BMW Championship with a flurry of birdies. He birdied five straight holes to finish the front nine, his final nine holes of the second round. He then continued his birdie streak with a birdie on the first hole in the third round. His streak of six consecutive birdies ties the longest birdie streak of his career. The only other time Furyk birdied six straight holes was in the third round of the Memorial Tournament in 2005.
• During the second round of the BMW Championship, Furyk played the front nine holes at Bellerive CC seven under-par. This is the lowest Furyk has ever played either a front or back nine in relation to par during a round on the PGA TOUR. Furyk's previous low was six under-par, occurring most recently on the back nine during the third round of the Memorial Tournament in 2005
• Furyk shot a first-round 70 and a second-round 62. The eight-shot turnaround can be greatly attributed to his improved play on the greens. He had 33 putts in his first round at the BMW Championship and only had 23 putts in the second round. The ten-putt difference ties the second largest difference in putts from one round to the next. At the Memorial Tournament in 2006, Furyk had 33 putts in the first round and only 22 putts in the second round, a difference of 11 putts; he went on to tie for 18th.
• Furyk was able to back up his second-round 62 with a third-round 66. Combined, he shot a 128 today. This is the second-best score in consecutive rounds in his career. In the 1999 Las Vegas Invitational, Furyk shot a 127 through the second and third rounds, a tournament which he went on to win.
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THINGS TO WATCH ON SUNDAY
1. Camilo Villegas. The Colombian Spiderman put on a four-week super show last year in the Playoffs, and even though he got off on the wrong foot at The Barclays (missed cut), he looks to be producing an encore. He's out of the running to win it all, but maybe he can grab his first TOUR victory.
2. Sergio Garcia. One of the few men mathematically able to challenge Vijay Singh for the FedExCup title, Garcia has two 68s and a 69 under his belt this week. If he can go low on Sunday, he might just be able to inject even more excitement into the Playoffs.
3. Vijay Singh. The man to watch isn't in contention this week after the close of the third round -- two 70s and a 71 so far this week, but you never can tell what the Big Fijian will do. He might be saving all his energy for THE TOUR Championship, but he might also have a Sunday surge.
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