Jim Furyk leads going into Sunday at Oak Hill
Jim Furyk (Courtesy: Tour Pro Golf Clubs)
Some quick thoughts ahead of Sunday’s final round at Oak Hill, with Jim Furyk holding a one-shot lead over Jason Dufner.
Current Leaderboard
- 1. Jim Furyk -9
- 2. Jason Dufner -8
- 3. Henrik Stenson -7
- 4. Jonas Blixt -6
- T5. Steve Stricker -5
- T5. Adam Scott -5
Oak Hill Fights Back
The first two rounds allowed scoring that we’ve never seen before at Oak Hill, mostly because of the amount of rain that fell in the area, which gave the players ideal conditions. By the time the leaders teed off on Saturday though, the course started to dry out a little bit, plus the wind picked up and the players took a little while to adjust. Justin Rose, who posted a front-nine 29 on Friday, ended up with a 42 on the same nine just a day later. Some, like Rose and Matt Kuchar, didn’t end up figuring it out and fell down the leaderboard, while the guys you see up top were able to manage for the most part.
The CBS Broadcast
Good god, what a disaster this was to start the day. CBS took over from TNT at 2:00 ET, and it took them 27 minutes to show anything live. Between recapping the previous day, Jim Nantz’ poetry off the top, the PGA of America’s Ted Bishop doing a promo and the Tiger/Phil show despite being nowhere near the top of the board, there wasn’t much of anything to actually watch. I’ve said it before, but there really is no sport that manages to provide a worse experience for the viewer at home than golf, and this today was a prime example of that.
Saturday’s Final Groups
Short points on the players who were in the last few groups:
- Jim Furyk: I’ve written about his ability to close in the past, and he’s got another shot at it tomorrow. He played very well today, but Sunday was a massive problem for him last year.
- Adam Scott: Scott also looked pretty good today until a double bogey on 16 knocked him back. The putter killed him all day.
- Jason Dufner: Wonky with the putter, which we’ve seen before, but held it together pretty good for a 1-over par round.
- Henrik Stenson; Just like he’s done all year, he flew under the radar today, but he’ll be in the second to last group with countryman Jonas Blixt.
Rory McIlroy
I tweeted earlier in the day that even though the score didn’t reflect it at the time, he was even par, that this was the most comfortable I had seen McIlroy since April when he finished as the runner-up to Martin Laird at the Valero. After that, he ended up at 3-under par with birdies on the final two holes and he’s actually within striking distance if he can go low tomorrow. I’ve been saying for weeks that people just needed to calm down and wait for him to break out of this funk, and he might be ready to do just that.
Other Notes
- On Phil Mickelson’s day: Fires an 8-over par 78, which basically shows you that this game is impossible to figure out. He’s been as hot as anyone in the last few weeks, and today, he looked like he had no idea what he was doing out there.
- On Tiger Woods: Not much to say really. At points, he looked great and at others he looked disinterested. Didn’t get off to a good start with his final scores on Thursday and Friday, and it appeared to carry over to today.
- Saw Ian Poulter putting with one hand this morning, which much like Mickelson’s day, shows you that even the pros are confused at points.
- If I have to pick a winner out for tomorrow, I’m going with Stenson at this point. Enjoy the final round, everyone.
AdamSarson.com 