Jim Furyk had good reason to smile after sinking a seven-foot birdie putt at the last for a share of the second-round lead at the Memorial tournament on Friday.
The lightning-fast greens at Muirfield Village Golf Club left very little margin for error with approach shots and putting, so Furyk was delighted to grind out a two-under-par 70.
“Obviously I’m happy with the position I’m in,” he said after joining Jonathan Byrd atop the leaderboard at seven-under 137.
“The greens are tough, no doubt about it. For a Thursday and Friday, I thought it was a very difficult setup. They’re slick. I can’t imagine them being any quicker,” he said.
Champion in 2002, Furyk was elated after covering the treacherous three-hole closing stretch at Memorial in one under par.
“Those are pretty tough holes and I wanted to really buckle down ... and get in the house where I wasn’t disappointed with my finish,” the 13-times PGA Tour winner said after carding five birdies and three bogeys in his round.
“I made a good par at 16, a good up-and-down at 17 and a good birdie on 18. That leaves a smile on your face. Good to go home and it puts me in good shape tied for the lead,” he said.
Furyk, who set up his birdie at the par-four last with a superb eight-iron approach, has adopted a strategy of patience in pursuit of his first PGA Tour title since the 2007 Canadian Open.
“It’s really unimportant where you’re at right now in the tournament,” he said. “I just want to go out there and play one more solid round tomorrow, hopefully sit in the same spot and put myself in good position for Sunday’s round.”
“Continue to play the same way after the first two days, which has been real patient, keeping the ball in front of me, trying to limit the mistakes, picking and choosing my spots to be aggressive and trying to take advantage of those,” he said.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
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