ATLANTA (AP) — Jim Furyk, the only American on the Ryder Cup team without a win this year, put himself in position Friday to join them.
Furyk made seven birdies through 10 holes at East Lake — including seven 3s to start the round — until he missed a few greens on the back nine that slowed his momentum. He wound up with a 6-under 64, giving him a one-shot lead over Justin Rose going into the weekend at the Tour Championship.
As for anyone questioning whether Furyk should have been a pick for the Ryder Cup?
He was more bothered by missing a 5-foot par putt on the 18th hole than what anyone thinks about his game or being in the Ryder Cup for the eighth straight time. With 16 wins, including a U.S. Open, and having qualified for every U.S. team since 1997, Furyk stopped believing he had to prove himself a long time ago.
“Look at the way I play golf — the way I swing the golf club and grip the putter,” he said. “Look at the way I go about my business. I don’t hit the ball very far. I’m short. If I really cared what the critics thought the last 19 years, I really wouldn’t be here. … My teammates know that I’m going to give 110 percent. They know I have a lot of heart. I have a lot of grit, and that’s what I’m going to do.
“But I’ve never felt like I have to justify myself.”
All he cares about is winning the Tour Championship, with an outside shot at the FedEx Cup title and its $10 million bonus. Furyk was at 7-under 133 on a course where he won just two years ago.
Rose, who shared the 18-hole lead with Tiger Woods, made four birdies on the back nine and holed a 6-foot birdie putt on the 18th for a 68.
Woods went the other direction.
The lone bright spot was a bunker shot that was among the best he has ever hit. With a quarter of the ball below the surface of the sand from a fairway bunker on the third hole, he caught a 9-iron so perfectly that it came out low and ran across the green to 6 feet for birdie.
The rest of the day was forgettable — a muffed pitch from a bad lie on No. 8 that led to double bogey, and a series of bad swings that put him in bad positions on the back nine and led to four bogeys. He had to scramble for par on the 18th for a 73, his worst score at East Lake in 14 years, dating to a 76 in the second round in 1998.
“I didn’t play very good today. Didn’t hit it very good, and definitely didn’t putt well,” Woods said. “So it was a struggle all day.”
Woods was six shots behind.
Bo Van Pelt made three bogeys on the last four holes and still had a 68 that put him two shots behind at 135, along with Masters champion Bubba Watson (66). Dustin Johnson, who had to summon his college teammate from Coastal Carolina to caddie for him when his regular had back problems, had a 67 and was another shot back, along with Georgia Tech alum Matt Kuchar (69).
The caddie was Cameron Hooper, perhaps the only caddie to ever wear topsiders and no socks. He wasn’t expecting to do anything but watch. Johnson played with Garcia, who uses a CBS Sports spotter for his caddie.
Rory McIlroy, who is leading the FedEx Cup, had a 68 and was only four shots behind. He still has the best shot at the $10 million bonus, though he remains far more interested in winning his third straight tournament, and fourth in his last five starts. McIlroy was fortunate not to tumble down the leaderboard, but he scrambled for par on three of five holes at the start of his round, and made up plenty of ground with a 40-foot eagle putt on the 15th.
“I just have to try to think of my standing in this golf tournament, not really think about anything else,” he said.
Furyk hasn’t won since he turned his cap around in the rain, saved par from a bunker and won the Tour Championship in 2010, along with the FedEx Cup.
He lost in a four-man playoff at Innisbrook. He was tied for the lead at the U.S. Open with three holes to play — two of them par 5s — until he hooked his tee shot into the trees and made bogey on the 16th. And he led at Firestone from the opening round until chopping up the final hole for a double bogey to lose by one.
“I think that my personality is that I’m 75 percent mad that I haven’t closed the door,” he said. “I have to be reminded, whether it’s my teacher or my caddie or my wife or whoever it may be, that ’You’re playing well. Be patient. Let it happen.’ Instead of the silver lining in the cloud, I’m definitely tougher on myself than anyone else.”
Furyk was close to perfect on the front nine at East Lake.
He spent close to an hour on the practice range Thursday afternoon, mostly hitting his driver, and it paid off in the second round. East Lake can only be attacked from the fairway, and only one of Furyk’s six birdie putts on the front nine was over 5 feet — that as a 15-footer on his opening hole.
“I just didn’t hit enough fairways yesterday,” Furyk said. “I felt like my iron play was sharp, but I was playing from the rough too much and scrambling a couple times too many. So I wanted to get the ball in play. I did a good job of that, and I set myself up for a lot better iron shots, and my iron game was as good as it’s been all year on the front nine. … So you’ve got to feel good about it.”
He’ll feel even better if he can go to Medinah next week with his 17th career win, though that don’t determine how he plays.
And if anyone is questioning Furyk being a captain’s pick, he wasn’t sure who it was. The eight players who qualified all weighed in with their choices. So did the assistant captains, along with U.S. captain Davis Love III. For them, taking Furyk didn’t seem to be a problem.
Woods certainly didn’t feel that it was.
“It’s not that controversial to us as players,” Woods said. “But to some it might be who are outside the team. … He’s been so solid and so rock steady. He’s a great team player, and he’s playing well. As I said, he’s two swings away from being in the top five in points.”
Those two swings — a tee shot at Olympic, a 7-iron at Firestone — actually would have put Furyk at No. 1 on the Ryder Cup points list. Either way, he’ll be at Medinah. For now, his focus is on two more days at East Lake.
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