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Driven Furyk, Henninger match 64s for Buick Open lead
Updated: Thursday August 09, 2001 8:31 PM
GRAND BLANC, Mich. (AP) -- Jim Furyk wants to remove all doubts about his Ryder Cup status this week. He's off to a good start. Furyk shot an 8-under 64 Thursday at Warwick Hills to share the first-round lead with Brian Henninger in the Buick Open. Furyk, 11th on the Ryder Cup points list, is seeking his third berth on the U.S. team. "It's in the back of my mind, we are all human," Furyk said. "You can say just go ahead and forget about it and play golf, but you are thinking about it." The top 10 on the points list after next week's PGA Championship will automatically make the team, and captain Curtis Strange will add two other players. Phil Mickelson was one stroke behind the leaders after missing a 6-foot putt on No. 18 for his only bogey. Jean Van de Velde, Briny Baird, John Cook, Steve Flesch, Ian Leggatt, David Peoples, Craig Perks and Kenny Perry were all at 66. Mark O'Meara was among a group of 10 another stroke back. It takes a low score to win the Buick Open. The average winning score the past 10 years has been 17 under. Since 1982, the highest winning score is 12 under. At least one player said this year's winner may need to be at least 20 under to take home the $558,000 first-place check.
Firm fairways after several 90-plus-degree days are making drives longer while soft greens, which obviously have been watered a lot, have encouraged players to shoot for pins. "I think the golf course is much more difficult than the scores are showing," Mickelson said. Six of the top 10 players on the Ryder Cup points list are playing this week. The only player from fifth to 19th that took the week off was No. 7 Scott Hoch. The Buick Open winner receives 150 points. "I would definitely like to have a real strong finish here or next week," Fury said, "and solidify a spot on the team and not have to try to rely or hope to be a captain's pick." Furyk's 62 in the second round of the 1995 Buick Open set the tournament record, which Sonny Skinner tied two years later. Furyk's only win this season was at the Mercedes Championship on Jan. 14. After missing the cut in the British Open last month, he gave his sore right wrist a break. Henninger won a tournament in 1994 and another in 1999, but to say he has struggled this year would be an understatement. He has made just four cuts in 20 outings and his best finish was a tie for 26th at the Houston Open in April. The other three times he made the cut he finished tied for 43rd, 55th and 61st. Henninger's 64 marked his best round of the year. "I am probably in a negative way too much of a momentum player," Henninger said. "It's fun to be ahead. I am good when I get ahead. I am not so good when I get behind." Mickelson will be going for his third win this year and 20th of his career. He won the Greater Hartford Open last month and the Buick Invitational in a playoff over Frank Lickliter and Davis Love III in February. But Mickelson struggled in July. He tied for 42nd at the Western Open, tied for 30th at the British Open, and tied for 71st last week in The International. Mickelson will look to shed the label of being "the best golfer to never win a major" next week. But Mickelson insists he's concentrating on this week's event, not the PGA Championship. "I try not to look at this tournament as being a warm-up for next week," he said. "I think that kind of undermines the importance of this event." However, he added that he likes to play in tournaments leading up to majors. "I don't want to have 10 or 14 days without competitive golf," he said. "I find that having only three days without competitive golf keeps me a little bit sharper and when I tee it up on Thursday, I am not nearly as anxious or nervous before I play. "But I certainly am not trying to think about Atlanta Athletic Club. I am thinking about Warwick Hills."
Divots: U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen shot a 70 in his first
start as a member of the PGA Tour. ... Heath Slocum had a 73 in his
first PGA Tour event. Slocum earned a "Battlefield Promotion" to
the PGA Tour on Sunday with his Omaha Classic victory, his third
Buy.com Tour win of the year.
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