SLOW AND STEADY: Jim Furyk, teeing off on the eighth hole (above), posted his third straight round of even-par or better yesterday in the U.S. Open’s third round, leaving him tied with Graeme McDowell for a share of the lead. (
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SAN FRANCISCO — Jim Furyk knows who his opponent is during today’s final round of the U.S. Open at the Olympic Club and it’s not his playing partner Graeme McDowell.
“It will be more about trying to play the golf course rather than trying to play Graeme or trying to play the guys trying to hunt us down,” Furyk said yesterday.
Furyk and McDowell will be playing in the final group today after sharing the 54-hole lead at 1-under. Furyk carded an even-par 70 yesterday, following a bogey at the par-5 16th with a birdie at par-5 17th. He’ll be trying to win his second U.S. Open after capturing his first and only major championship at Olympia Fields in 2003.
There are 17 golfers within five shots of the lead, which should make for an intense finish.
“Obviously I like being up front in the position I’m in,” Furyk said. “The golf course will take its effect on a bunch of people. And the guys that go out there and deal with the conditions and the situations the best and find a way to get through those difficult holes with par and limit their bogeys and take advantage of some situations where you can make birdie, those are the guys that will have some success and have an opportunity to win the last few holes.”
Furyk expects the course to play every bit as difficult today as it has the previous three rounds.
“I expect it to get firm,” he said. “I expect it to get faster and the greens to be maybe a touch quicker. The golf course is going to play difficult. It looks like I need to kind of look at the weather report again and see how the wind is going to be. If that wind gets up or it gets blowing 10 to 20 [mph] again like it was earlier in the week it’s going to be a very tough day. [Yesterday] it laid down a little bit. It was a lot warmer. It gave us more of a chance to score in spots.”
Furyk said he got a few breaks during yesterday’s round and hopes that continues today.
“I made some physical errors and made poor swings at times, which you’re going to do,” he said. “I did a good job thinking my way around the golf course and keeping the ball in positions I could play from. When I missed spots I missed them in the right spots where I could get the ball up and down. I also felt like I made a couple of mental errors the first few days as far as club selections and different things. And I learned from a few of those mistakes and did a good job mentally around the golf course, and I hope to continue that.”
george.willis@nypost.com