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 Furyk carded a three-under 68 in wet conditions at Valhalla Golf
Club while Day fired a sizzling 65, the best score of the second
round, as they posted matching totals of eight-under 134 to trail
leader Rory McIlroy by one stroke.
"Obviously we had a good draw, being in the afternoon," 2003 U.S.
Open champion Furyk told reporters after sinking a 12-footer to
birdie the 17th before getting up and down from the left side of the
green for another at the par-five 18th.
"The guys in the morning had much tougher conditions. We had maybe
15 to 20 minutes of rain and wind in our face. That was when I
played No. 10. The hole played long.
"I laid it up in the rough and hit a bad iron shot, wasn't able to
get it up and down."
 On a Valhalla layout playing ultra long due to the wet conditions,
the 44-year-old bogeyed the par-five 10th, and also the 12th, but
then played steadily over the closing stretch before finishing
birdie-birdie.
"That back nine after 13 doesn't let up too much," said Furyk, a
winner of 16 titles on the PGA Tour. "14, 15, 16, 17 are some pretty
long tough holes, and I was able to grind it out, played pretty
patient.
"It always makes dinner taste a little better," he said of his
birdie-birdie finish. "You go away with good spirits. I'm just happy
with two solid rounds, being able to shoot 66 yesterday and then 68.
"A good solid position in the tournament but we're only halfway
done, a lot of golf left."
ROCKETED UP LEADERBOARD
Day, hunting his first major title after recording seven top-10
finishes in golf's blue riband events aged just 26, rocketed up the
leaderboard at Valhalla with an outward nine of five-under 30.
[to top of second column] |
"I played great," said the world number nine, who eagled the seventh after
hitting a one-iron from 250 yards to 10 feet and sinking the putt. "I
got off to a great start, but the last thing that I expected to shoot
was 30 on the front nine.
"I put some good shots together out there to give myself the
opportunities to really take advantage of the front nine.
"Obviously the back nine is just a little tougher. I was a little
disappointed that I had one bogey on the back nine but I came home
strong with a couple of birdies, at 17 and 18."
Like Furyk, Day was thankful for an afternoon teetime after the early
starters, including McIlroy, who did superbly well to card a 67, had to
contend with driving rain and a weather delay of 45 minutes.
"We got a little lucky on the draw," said Day. "We didn't get as much
rain. We didn't really get a delay out there which was nice. The guys in
the morning, I've just seen some pictures of some of the guys in the
morning. It was pouring pretty hard."
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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