Day & Furyk Share Lead Entering Final Round at The Barclays


Jason Day and Jim Furyk are tied for the 54-hole lead at The Barclays. The $8 million tournament - the first in the PGA Tour's season-ending, four-event FedEx Cup Playoffs - is being held at the A.W. Tillinghast-designed Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J.

Day, a 26-year-old Aussie with two victories on Tour - his latest being the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in February shot a 68 on the par-71 course. He carded seven birdies, two bogeys and a double after suffering a two-stroke, lost-ball penalty on the par-5 13th hole.

Furyk, a 44-year-old Pennsylvanian with 16 career titles, was much steadier with two birdies and 16 pars for a 69.

The two enter Sunday atop the leaderboard at 9-under 204, a stroke ahead of Hunter Mahan (68) and two in front of an all-American group that includes Morgan Hoffman (66), Matt Kuchar (68), Kevin Na (70), Bo Van Pelt (70), Kevin Chappell (71), Brendon Todd (71 and 36-hole co-leader Cameron Tringale (72).

Surprisingly for such a steady player, Furyk's most recent victory came in the 2010 Tour Championship, which earned him the FedEx Cup title that year. Despite a dearth of wins since then, the 2003 U.S. Open champion has enjoyed a banner season, with eight top-10s - and three runner-ups - in 17 starts.

Both he and Day are prepared for what looks to be a tight race on Sunday. "It's going to be interesting (Sunday)," Day said of the clogged leaderboard. Furyk agreed, noting, "Going to be a little bit of a shootout tomorrow. Excited about one more opportunity."

Only three behind the leaders are Australia's Stuart Appleby (68), Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (68), South African Ernie Els (71) and Americans William McGirt (68) and Erik Compton (70).

Four back are Japan's Ryo Ishikawa (68), New Zealand's Danny Lee (70), Englishmen Justin Rose (70) and Paul Casey (71), and Americans Rickie Fowler (67), Gary Woodland (69) and Chris Stroud (69).

No. 1-ranked Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland had a 70 and goes into the last round at 4-under 209. McIlroy entered The Barclays off three straight victories in the Open Championship, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship.

"I felt like I actually played well. I played similar to yesterday. I just didn't get a putt to drop," McIlroy told reporters. "And when I've hit good putts, I've just got not given enough break on either the speed I've hit it or I've hit it right in the middle or just short. I hit a couple putts like that today.

"Maybe just go tomorrow and be a little more aggressive on the greens. Obviously, I'm going to have to make some birdies to try and catch the guys in front of me."

Also at 4-under are Americans Charles Howell III (68), Stewart Cink (68) and Bubba Watson (71), Argentina's Angel Cabrera (69), McIlroy's fellow Ulsterman Graeme McDowell (71), and Australian Adam Scott.

No. 2-ranked Scott began Saturday tied for the lead with Tringale after rounds of 69 and 65. But the 34-year-old - the defending Barclays' champion - stumbled to a 4-over 75 that included one birdie, three bogeys and a double on the par-4 11th.

Phil Mickelson also had a tough outing on the classic Tilly design, posting a 75. The 54-hole cut was set at 1-over 214. Mickelson's 4-over round dropped him - along with eight others - from the surviving finalists in Sunday's field.

For the second straight day, Mickelson hit his tee shot onto the terrace of a grandstand left of the fifth green. This time, he managed to save par.

Defending FedEx Cup champion Henrik Stenson shot a 77 and just made the secondary cut at even-par 213. The 38-year-old Swede posted four birdies, five bogeys and quintuple-bogey nine on the par-4 fourth.

For all the scores, visit http://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html.