United States Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III and Jim Furyk share a two-shot lead after the third round of the McGladrey Classic at Sea Island, Georgia on Saturday. The year 2012 has not proved to be a memorable one so far, but now Furyk seems to be heading toward a significant achievement. Both Love III and Furyk are looking at different players after the Ryder Cup at Medinah, where the American golfers lost.
Both men still have haunting memories of the Ryder Cup at Medinah, in which the American golfers lost to their European counterparts. Love had captained the American team at the Ryder Cup and both golfers are trying to move on after the humiliating defeat.
On Saturday, at Sea Island, Furyk lead for a large part of the game. He sunk three birdies on the front nine and did not hit any bogeys. Love was more inconsistent in hitting the ball however, and picked up a birdie on 18 to tie with Furyk.
This would be the first PGA win for Love since 2008, while Furyk would be trying desperately to end the disappointing season with an impressive win.
Furyk looked pretty impressive at the McGladrey Classic, running off 4 early birdies, which gave him a 4-under 66 to tie the score with Love.
Love has been fortunate to play more often after the Ryder Cup disappointment. He has, in fact, played every week after the Ryder Cup concluded and looked in good form on Saturday. He joined Furyk to lead at 13 under 197.
For Furyk, this is the last official golf event this year. He had said earlier that even if he won the championship at the McGladrey Classic, it would not be enough to forget the losses he suffered at the US Open in June, the Bridgestone Invitational and the Ryder Cup. He failed to capitalize on the lead he had gained in these tournaments.
He said, "I'm tougher on myself - I promise - than anyone else is. So I've kicked myself 100 times already. And I've gotten over it. I can put it behind me and move. There's nothing I can do to change it. And nothing I do in the future is going to change it. ... I'm excited for this season to be over, only for the fact that I can turn the page and we can start talking about the future.''
Love, on the other hand, won a tournament at Disney four years ago. He has been playing every week after the Ryder Cup debacle.
Love said, ''I can separate a lot of things, separate the Ryder Cup with its own experience. People were surprised I played the three weeks after, but I'd had some time off. I was ready to play. I haven't played enough tournaments, so it's nice to be back in the swing of things.''
After encountering too many failures this year, Furyk is determined to turn things around this time.
''If I looked at tomorrow as another chance to be judged in case I failed ... you know, it's been a tough year, but I could never look at it that way. It's an opportunity for me to go out and win a golf tournament, and I'm not trying to make up for the rest of the year. What happened, happened. It's over with. I can't change it. I'm never going to feel good about what happened, but it's done with. It's opportunity tomorrow to win a golf tournament. That's the way I'm going to look at it,'' he said.
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