Furyk ‘is the one to beat’

THIRTY-three-year-old Jim Furyk took another big step towards an almost inevitable first major at Olympia Fields yesterday by setting a 36 hole scoring record for the US Open.

He added a 66 to Thursday’s 67 for a seven below par total of 133, one shot better than the previous figure shared by four players.

Furyk’s playing partner Darren Clarke (who himself shot 69 for one under) was so impressed both by Furyk’s ball striking and scoring that he insisted “Jim is the one we all have to beat”. However, he wasn’t to know that Tiger Woods was emerging from the long grass and moving to two under thanks to a phenomenal three wood of 247 yards that he cut around the trees at the long 6th to within fifteen feet of the hole.

And as Tom Watson had demonstrated with his remarkable 65 on the opening day, 46 year-old Nick Price from Zimbabwe proved that golf, even in the white hot heat of a US Open, isn’t the preserve of the younger generation. Price shot 65 to come in at four under and three behind Furyk.

Meanwhile, Watson enjoyed little of the luck that followed him around on Thursday when he had only 23 putts in his 65 but still got round in 72 to stand three under, much to the delight of just about everybody.

Nobody empathised with the emotional scenes that surrounded Watson’s first round more than Nick Price. It is now common knowledge that Bruce Edwards, caddy and close friend of Watson for the past thirty years, has been stricken by the incurable disease ALS. A few years ago, Price lost his own faithful retainer known to everybody as Squeaky.

“They had tears in their eyes and I can certainly relate to that”, he admitted. “I had a similar experience with Squeaky. It’s very hard because the relationship between player and caddy is such a close one. I can’t say I knew Squeaky was going to die when he got sick but halfway through his illness, things weren’t looking very good. They’ve been together since 1973 and shared so many wonderful moments, not only in winning championships but also as friends and companions.”

The Watson-Edwards fairytale just couldn’t continue, of course. Big time sport rarely allows for sentiment to prevail over harsh reality. Watson was going fine until running up a double bogey at the 12th and while he clung on gamely to finish at three under, much of the magic was gone.

“Yesterday, it was like I was going full tilt, today it was more of a struggle”, said Watson. “I was treading water. My iron play was not nearly as good and I felt I was steering the ball and that caused me problems. But the golf course is there for the taking. It is soft, not as difficult as you would normally expect at the US Open, but I’ve seen some of the pin positions for tomorrow and we’re going to have some fun. The galleries were loud and they were genuine. They were pulling not only for me but Bruce as well. A lot of comments to him, like you can beat this, Bruce. But we were more in control today, he wasn’t slobbering over me and I wasn’t slobbering over him.”

For now, though, the impetus rests very much with Jim Furyk after his record breaking exploits. He certainly doesn’t have a swing to go anywhere near pleasing the purists and he isn’t the longest ball striker in the world. But his iron play over the first two rounds has been awesome and although he obviously did hole some crucial putts, he also missed golden chances at the 16th from ten feet and seven feet at 18 to stretch his lead still further.

“There’s still 36 holes to go and I have to keep focusing on what has got me to this point”, Furyk observed. “The golf course is going to get more difficult, like everyone has talked about. I’ve been striking the ball very well. Now I’m also trying to figure out what things I can improve on over the week-end to get a little bit better. It was a friendly crowd out there, in our group Phil [Mickelson] was the fans’ favourite early on, it was ‘come on Phil, come on Phil’, and Darren [Clarke] had a lot of support. I started playing well and people cheered me on. It was nice to hear that.”

Darren Clarke ensured a relatively late start for today’s third round with a solid 69 that would have been a lot better had he not missed several gilt edged birdie chances. For late starter Padraig Harrington it was a bit of a struggle, a bogey at the 12th (his 3rd) being offset by a birdie at the 7th which left him still one under for the championship.

Surprisingly, best of the Europeans was the Swedish qualifier Fredrik Jacobson who shot a 67 for four under along with Price and Eduardo Romero, the 49 year-old Argentine striking yet another blow for the older brigade.