Furyk leads pack of birdie-baggers at Conway

    Writing from Lake Forest, Illinois
    Saturday, September 14, 2013

    There were some crazy numbers on Saturday at leafy Conway Farms Golf Club, but not among the overnight leaders.
    Matt Kuchar posted a 10-under-par 61 before lunch. Steve Stricker fired a 7-under 64 to climb into second place. But co-leader Jim Furyk, whose dizzying 12-under 59 on Friday made worldwide headlines, settled down and scored 2-under 69.
    He now leads alone, sitting at 13-under-par 200, but only by a stroke, for Stricker, the world’s best part-time player, is at 201 after his 64, and Brandt Snedeker, the co-leader with Furyk through 36 holes, is at 202 after his even-par 71.
    If that’s not enough of a crowd entering the final round of the 110th Western Open – or, from the looks of the props around the set, the BMW Championship – Zach Johnson’s at 10-under 203 following a 69, and one Tiger Woods, five times a previous champion of this turkey shoot, is lurking at 9-under 204 following a penalty-free 5-under-par 66.
    What this means is what it usually means entering the final round on a course that yields birdies: A Sunday shootout. Throw in Charl Schwartzel and Ryan Moore, hanging in at 8-under 205, and there are seven players within five strokes with 18 holes to go. Any of them could win, and look who’s tied for 11th at 207 after a quiet 67: Luke Donald, the Conway Farms member whose influence helped bring the Western Golf Association’s big deal to his club in the first place. Stranger things have happened.
    Longtime Chicago favorite Furyk was lauded with every step he took in the third round.
    “It kind of felt like a victory lap,” Furyk said. “People kept cheering for me all the way around. It’s always difficult to follow that up with a low number, and it probably took me a few holes to really get in the flow out there. Made a couple mental errors, shortsided myself a couple times. But I felt I played a very, very good nine holes on the way in.”
    The inward nine totaled 2-under 34, tarnished only by a three-putt bogey at the last, a hole that started with his first missed fairway off the tee since the 12th hole on Thursday. He had hit 32 fairways in succession.
    “I tried to hit that shot a little too hard for some reason,” Furyk said.
    The miscue halved his lead to a mere stroke over Stricker, whose 64 was punctuated by an eagle 2 on the par-4 15th. He holed out from 99 yards, brandishing a sand wedge, and also had a half-dozen birdies, plus a bogey on the penultimate hole. In all, a good move on what Ken Venturi labeled “Moving Day.” He started the day tied for 57th, but it wasn’t easy.
    “Some greens are firmer than others, depending on where you hit it on the green,” Stricker said. “Some are more exposed so they’re firmer. Some are softer and holding. So it’s a challenge to figure out what’s going to release and what’s going to hold, and then the speed is pretty fast.
    “And it’s a course we haven’t played very much.”
    And still, there’s been a 59, a 61, a 63, a 64 and a handful of 65s. Imagine how the pros will score once they figure out how to play it.
    For the moment, they know enough. There should be some testing pin positions on Sunday, when the $8 million purse – $1.44 million to the winner – is awarded, and the final 30 spots in the FedEx Cup playoff final are determined. But the placements will hardly be pernicious, for the greens have little slope in them, none of them are multi-tiered, and they’re in perfect shape. Or, as the pros would say, “they’re fair,” which translates to easy to putt.
    So expect more low, low, low scoring from the leaders on Sunday, and for the winner to score no worse than 65. Oh, and it’ll probably rain, so they’ll also be holding even more than they have.
    The final six pairings:
    11:50 a.m.: Luke Donald (207), Matt Jones (207)
    Noon: Rory Sabbatini (206), Nick Watney (206)
    12:10 p.m.: Ryan Moore (205), Hunter Mahan (206)
    12:20 p.m.: Tiger Woods (204), Charl Schwartzel (205)
    12:30 p.m.: Brandt Snedeker (202), Zach Johnson (203)
    12:40 p.m.: Jim Furyk (200), Steve Stricker (201)

    Early bird gets the 61

    Matt Kuchar fell out of bed on Saturday morning and shot a 61.
    Playing in the day’s fifth pairing, Kuchar went out in 5-under-par 30 and was 6-under for the day after 10 holes. He warmed up again toward the end of the round, making a birdie on the par-5 14th and the last three holes to return home in 5-under 31 for a 10-under 61.
    It would have been a Western / BMW and Conway Farms record, except for the fantastic 59 authored by Jim Furyk on Friday. But it was fine by Kuchar, who had been on the outside looking in for the first two days, scoring 74-73, about five strokes over the field average.
    “I was just shocked seeing the scores that were posted the first two rounds,” Kuchar said. “I thought this course was challenging even without the conditions, but with 15-20 mile-per-hour winds all day, I thought the place was really tough.”
    Conditions were more docile on Saturday – it was about 55 with a 5-mph wind from the southwest when Kuchar teed off – and he took advantage, hitting 16 greens in regulation and one-putting nine of them, plus holing out from the fringe on the second hole.
    All the dramatic shots, including a 21-footer for birdie on the second, his longest putt of the day, added up to 61. But he had a vision of something else in the 18th fairway.
    “I had a thought on the last hole, gosh, if I hole this out from the fairway (for double-eagle 2), it’s a 59,” Kuchar said. “I think I got it to at least scare the hole a bit.”
    It did, stopping about 15 feet behind the cup. He two-putted for birdie from there.
    Ho hum, a 61.

    Around Conway Farms

    Hunter Mahan had the shot of the day, an ace on the 208-yard 17th hole. He used a 5-iron, and won a $100,000 bonus grant from BMW for the Evans Scholars Foundation – effectively, a full scholarship for a fortunate caddie – and a electric-powered BMW for himself. ... The showcase pairing of Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia featured handshakes at the start and finish, and little communication between the two otherwise. Garcia shot 2-under 69, hearing a few “fried chicken” catcalls from the gallery, catching the same phrase he used for Woods at the Players Championship. ... Woods on his two-stroke penalty on Friday: “I was pretty hot because I felt like, as I said, nothing happened. I felt the ball oscillated and that was it. I played the rest of my round grinding my tail off to get myself back in the tournament and then (to) go from five to seven behind, that was tough.” ... A reliable source reports Saturday’s gallery was 31,000, with the galleries for the first two days about 25,000 and 28,000, respectively. That makes our original estimate of 40,000 for Thursday off the mark. The final round crowd may exceed Saturday’s, if they come out early. Rain is forecast for most of the day, with a 70 percent change from noon on.

    – Tim Cronin