Once looking at early exit, Furyk eyes Quail Hollow title now

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Jim Furyk started Friday's second round of the Quail Hollow Championship battling to make the cut after opening with a 75.

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Furyk's mindset changed quickly, though, as he birdied five of his first six holes on the way to a 7-under 65 that was as hot as the summer sun above. Suddenly the man who started the day tied for a distant 101st was just three strokes off the lead.

"Just got on a great run," Furyk said simply. "I knew the wind was going to blow this afternoon. I knew I'd probably need to get off to a good start today to get back in the golf tournament, first and foremost, make the cut. I was pretty far back.

"I birdied five of the first six, was on a roll and played really solid the rest of the day. I had one little slip-up bogey on 16, but really felt like I hit the ball very well and gave myself a lot of opportunities, and I rolled the putter well all day."

Furyk set the tone when he rolled in a 17-footer for his first birdie at the par-5 10th. Then came a stretch of four straight birdies beginning at No. 12 as he made putts of 3, 22, 4 and 2 feet.

As he mentioned, there was one blip when he drove it left off the tee at the 16th hole and couldn't get up and down from short of the green. But Furyk answered with a 4-footer on the 17th and two more birdie putts from 13 on the front nine to climb back into contention.

Furyk has played in the Quail Hollow Championship six times previously. He won the tournament 2006 after tying for second the previous year. Furyk has finished 11th or better two other times so he definitely has a comfort zone here.

"You never know what can happen," Furyk said. "4 under will be in earshot."

After he finished his round of 3 over on Thursday, though, Furyk was out of sorts with his swing. He went to the range, and that 40-minute session certainly paid dividends as Furyk hit 16 of 18 greens on Friday compared to just 11 in the first round.

"I was actually very excited last night," he said. "I called my dad just to kind of check in with what I was doing with my swing and was really excited about how I hit it on the range yesterday, and I was hoping to be able to take it to the course today."

Furyk is in the midst of one of the best seasons of his career. The 2003 U.S. Open champ has already won twice, including the Verizon Heritage in his last start. The last time Furyk won twice in a season was in 2006 -- and one of those came at Quail Hollow.

"I guess the one disappointment really is missing the cut at Augusta," Furyk said. "But other than that just really pleased. It's relaxed me a little bit.

"I feel like I'm relaxed, but no reason to stop now. If I hit a bad shot here or there, or if I have a bad round like yesterday, it's a little easier to forget about it and move on, realizing that I've already played well this year, and the rest of the year is still ahead of me."