The US’ Jim Furyk used a red-hot putter to leapfrog Jason Dufner for a one-shot lead after Saturday’s penultimate round of the PGA Championship, as Rory McIlroy battled his way back into the tournament.
Furyk, who began the round two shots back of Dufner in a three-way tie for second, drained an 18-foot birdie putt on the par-four 17th en route to a two-under-par 68 that put him at nine-under 201 for the year’s final major.
Dufner (71) scrambled a par on the 18th after sending his tee shot into the deep rough, but a brilliant approach to about 10 feet and a putt that curled around the right lip of the cup before dropping in left him alone in second.
Swede Henrik Stenson (69) was a further shot back, while compatriot Jonas Blixt (66) moved into fourth.
Masters champion Adam Scott began the day level with Furyk and Matt Kuchar (76), but slipped into a tie for fifth place with Steve Stricker (70) after a two-over 72 that included a double-bogey six at the 16th.
Furyk managed to deal with the swirling winds best at Oak Hill as he offset two early bogeys with a pair of birdies on the front nine and then grabbed the lead with a birdie on the 10th.
He traded a birdie for a bogey over his next five holes, before that long putt on 17 and a 15-foot par from the fringe on 18 that left him in prime position to claim his first PGA Tour win since 2010, and first major since the 2003 US Open.
The PGA Championship runner up in 2011, Dufner opened his back nine with a birdie before making pars the rest of the way, most notably at 18, when he looked headed for a sure bogey after an errant tee shot.
Only 11 of 75 players in action on Saturday managed to break par, as sunny skies and blustery conditions combined to make Oak Hill’s greens quicker, and low scoring at a premium.
Scott got off to a quick start by draining a 20-foot birdie putt at the first to move one back of playing partner Dufner, but bogeyed the next two holes to slip further behind.
The Australian then went on a string of 10 consecutive pars before driving the 318-yard par-four 14th for a birdie to move back into the mix, but his hard work was undone on the 16th.
Kuchar also got to within one shot of Dufner with a birdie putt at the opening hole after his approach from 186 yards landed about three feet from the pin. However, a double-bogey and three bogeys over his next eight holes hurt his chances.
Tiger Woods (73) and Phil Mickelson (78), both tumbled out of contention.
McIlroy, who was five over for the tournament at one point on Friday, roared back into contention with a three-under 67.
The defending champion capped his round in brilliant fashion, taming Oak Hill’s infamous tough closing stretch with birdies at 17 and 18, including a chip-in from behind the green at the last.
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
A soccer jersey carrying a national map including disputed Western Sahara has become a hot commodity in Morocco after a diplomatic dispute with Algeria. Retailers said RS Berkane jerseys have been flying off the shelves after a Confederation of African Football (CAF) Cup match against Algerian club USM Alger was canceled last month over the jerseys. “We are overwhelmed by the influx of messages and requests,” said Brahim Rabii, representative of the official RS Berkane jersey distributor. Algeria broke off diplomatic relations with Morocco in 2021, partly over the issue of Western Sahara. The former Spanish colony is largely controlled by Morocco, but claimed