University of Arizona alumnus Jim Furyk fired a 2-over 72 on Saturday at the U.S. Open to move into a tie for seventh, just three shots off the lead.
Furyk, at 48 years young, began the day at 4-over after opening rounds of 73 and 71 at Shinnecock Hills (par 70) in Southampton, New York. He started the third round eight shots off the lead then held by world No. 1 Dustin Johnson.
But Saturday at the U.S. Open provided the field its most difficult test yet, with only co-leaders Daniel Berger (66) and Tony Finau (66) and Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat (68) breaking par. Only two more players, Brian Gay and Gary Woodland, shot even par.
Berger and Finau will enter Sunday in a tie with Johnson (77) and defending champion Brooks Koepka (72).
Furyk got things started Saturday with a birdie out of the gate at the testy first hole, hitting his approachΒ from the middle of the fairway to 4 feet before holing his birdie putt to get to 3-over for the tournament. The ex-Cat made three bogeys on the front to make the turn at 2-over 37 on the day, 6-over for the tournament.
Is this going to be another "Jim Furyk tees off an hour before the leaders and quietly posts a number" #USOpen? Early signs point to yes. pic.twitter.com/z8jnmBWq1K
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 16, 2018
He played the back nicely, including a birdie at the par-3 11th after knocking the 159-yard tee shot to 12 feet above the hole. He bogeyed 15 and finished 37-35.
But the finish didn't come without a touch of Furyk flair. Furyk split the fairway with a 262-yard drive on 18, but couldn't hold the green with his approach from 226 yards out. The ball hurried off the back but held up in the fringe before reaching the rough.
The idea from the back fringe, about 40 feet from the hole after his second shot, was to get up and down for par. But Furyk putted his third shot well past the cup, leaving himself 13 feet for par.
He rolled it in for a round of 72.
Furyk made just four bogeys Saturday and got two birdies to drop.
Gay and Furyk will be the fifth-to-last group out for the final round Sunday with a 10:40 a.m. start time. Finau and Berger tee off at 11:24.
Furyk has the difficult β and at times seemingly impossible β Shinnecock Hills golf course to thank for his surge up the leaderboard on moving day.
Of the last 22 players to finish Saturday, Furyk had the best round at 2-over-par.
Jim Furyk plays his shot from the second tee during the third round of the U.S. Open Golf Championship, Saturday, June 16, 2018, in Southampton, N.Y.
"The golf course transformed today from hole 1 to hole 18," Furyk said after his round. "It was a different golf course on the back nine and really just became kind of a who could survive and get through the day."Β
Furyk missed only one fairway as winds kicked up to over 20 mph. So goes the phrase of the week at Shinnecock: If you miss the fairway, you're going to miss the green.
But this is the U.S. Open, and despite hitting 13 of 14 fairways, Furyk hit only 7 of 18 greens in regulation β about two fewer than the field.
Justin Rose similarly hit 13 of 14 fairways but only 6 of 18 greens. Rose managed to make the turn at 1-over, and finished with a 73 in fifth place.
Should Furyk find more success from tee to green Sunday, he could find himself threatening the top of a dense leaderboard packed with marquee names.
At 48, Furyk would become the oldest U.S. Open winner in tournament history, surpassing Hale Irwin's marathon win in 91 holes at the 1990 U.S. Open at Medinah. Irwin was 45.
A Furyk victory on Sunday could be just as epic.
FurykΒ was a two-time All-American at Arizona, where he helped lead the Wildcats to their first and only NCAA championship in 1992 by averaging 73.53 over 39 rounds. He joined the PGA Tour in 1994 and continues to add on to an already impressive career.
Furyk recorded the lowest round in PGA Tour history with a 58 in the 2016 Travelers Championship. He has 17 wins on tour, including the U.S. Open in 2003. He won the $10 million FedEx Cup and was named the tour's player of the year in 2010. Furyk has played on nine Ryder Cup teams and seven Presidents Cup teams, the former of which he'll be the captain of in 2018.
He was inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame in 1997.
