Jim Furyk is tied for the lead with Sean O'Hair after 36 holes
at the Deutsche Bank Championship (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
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Birdie barrage sets early clubhouse lead at 2009 Deutsche Bank Championship
Jim Furyk and Sean O'Hair shot a pair of under-par rounds to each take a share of the lead after two rounds of play at the 2009 Deutsche Bank Championship. Playing together, Furyk and O'Hair fed on each other's momentum in their morning grouping, setting a clubhouse lead that no one else would come near in the afternoon.
O'Hair shot a sizzling -7 (64) that included a streak of eight holes where he was eight under par - and one of them was a par. Between the 15th and 4th holes, O'Hair was on fire, making almost as many birdies as he has in the past events combined.
Coming in to the Deutsche Bank Championship, O'Hair had only 12 birdies in his last three starts. Even though he missed the cut last week at the Barclays, O'Hair said patience has been his ally.
“It can either help your or it can really hurt you,” O’Hair said. “If you get impatient out there, it can be a detriment. But with the attitude I had out there the last couple of days, it was nice.”
O'Hair's playing partner the past two days knows a bit about being patient. Jim Furyk hasn't won on tour since 2007, and has had a couple of heartbreaking losses down the stretch in big tournaments (U.S. Open, 2007 for example). Furyk had an excellent first round of golf on Friday, hitting 13 of 14 fairways and 100% of his greens in regulation. Saturday was a little different, but not horribly so.
“I didn’t expect to go out there and hit 13 fairways and 18 greens today,” said Furyk. “I hit a few bad shots, got loose once in a while, but was able to score well all day...We saw a lot of good golf and a lot of good golf shots. And obviously, I saw some putts go in.”
The low round of the day belonged to Autralian Marc Leishman who shot a staggering -9 (62) to skyrocket into a tie for second place at -10 overall. Leishman's bogey-free round started on #10, and included an eagle at 18 to finish his front nine at -6 (29). At the turn he had a streak of five holes in a row where he carded a birdie or better #16 - #2.
Tiger Woods managed to shoot a -4 (67) to remain seven strokes back of the leaders. Midway through his round it looked as if Woods would actually be in danger of missing the cut, and he was missed at least three birdie putts inside 10-feet on the front nine alone. He managed to rattle off four birdies on the back nine to finally make his move, although he made up no ground on the leaders.
Woods wasn't the only one who felt the pressure to keep pace with Furyk and O'Hair.
“When you’re watching the group ahead of you throwing birdie after birdie, you know you have to keep making them,” said Geoff Ogilvy who shot a -3 (68) to finish four strokes off of the pace.
The truth is that they are only thirty-six holes into it, and the Deutsche Bank Championship is far from over. There are nine players within four strokes of the lead, including Padraig Harrington, Angel Cabrera and Ogilvy at -8, and a total of twenty-three players at -6 or better. Woods and the rest of the field have two days left to try to close on O'Hair and Furyk, neither of whom have a strong track-record of keeping a 36-hole lead.
Then again, these are the playoffs, and most anything seems capable of happening. Just ask Heath Slocum who managed to slay the mighty Tiger and company with a win at the Barclays last week, and couldn't make the cut this week at the DBC. Play resumes on Sunday morning at 7:40a.m. Eastern time.
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