Furyk & Petrovic Halfway Leaders at Canadian Open


Thanks to a course-record-tying 7-under 63, Jim Furyk vaulted to the top of the leaderboard alongside Tim Petrovic at the Canadian Open. The $5.7 million PGA Tour event got underway Thursday on the Blue Course at Royal Montreal Golf Club.

The 44-year-old Furyk, the 2003 U.S. Open champion who won two straight Canadian Opens in 2006 and '07 among his 16 career titles, carded seven birdies - including four straight on his second through fifth holes - after starting play on the 10th tee.

After opening with a 64, the 47-year-old Petrovic, a native of Massachusetts who's only Tour victory came in the 2005 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, posted a 66 to tie Furyk at 10-under 130 at historic Royal Montreal, the oldest golf club in North America.

Furyk said he took advantage of a course softened by rainstorms Wednesday. "The greens are very receptive," he noted. "They have it set up so we can attack and fire at the pins, so the scores are going to be good . . . I'm hitting the ball well, making some putts."

Furyk was paired with Saskatchewan's Graham DeLaet, who matched him birdie for birdie en route to another 63. The 32-year-old DeLaet, seeking to become the first Canadian to win his national championship since Pat Fletcher 60 years ago, carded nine birdies and two bogeys Friday to get to 8-under 132 and a tie for third with American Kyle Stanley, who's posted rounds of 65 and 67.

Three behind the co-leaders are Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell (65) and Americans Justin Hicks (67), Scott Brown (66) and Andrew Svoboda (66).

Also in the Furyk-DeLaet group was Matt Kuchar, the top-ranked player in the field at No. 7 in the world rankings, who carded a 65 to move into a tie for ninth at 6-under 134 with 18-hole co-leader Michael Putnam (70) of Tacoma, fellow Americans Nick Watney (68) and Jamie Lovemark (65), Australian Greg Chalmers (68), Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (67), New Zealand's Danny Lee (65) and South African Tim Clark (67).

Furyk relished the birdiefest with DeLaet and Kuchar. "Graham and Matt are laidback people, they're fun to play golf with," said the Pennsylvanian. "We chatted a lot out there. When those guys are making birdies, you feel that putts are going in and it's a good vibe."

DeLaet, who's enjoyed a fine year that includes six top-10s in 18 starts - including a tie for second in back-to-back weeks at the Farmers Insurance Open and Waste Management Open earlier in the year, confirmed Furyk's assessment of their threesome. "When you see putts rolling in from everywhere like it was in our group, you just feel like putting's easy or something and you just start holing them," he said. "It was fun.

"They're both great guys and great players."

The course record was established by David Mooreland and Scott Verplank in the second round at the 2001 Canadian Open; Verplank was the winner that year. DeLaet was pleased to have his name placed alongside Furyk and those two players. "To share a course record here is pretty special and to have two guys in one group do it is pretty amazing," he said.

Defending champion Brandt Snedeker carded his second straight 69 and is at 2-under 138 heading into the weekend.

The cut was set at even-par 140.

Canadian amateur Taylor Pendrith, making his PGA Tour debut this week, electrified the crowd on Thursday with a 65. But the recent Kent State graduate followed that up with a 75, just enough to qualify for the weekend. Also at 140 is Ontario's Mike Weir, who posted a second straight 70.

For complete scoring, visit http://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html.