West Chester Native Holds US Open Lead

The West Chester native was 1 over through nine holes in the final round Sunday, holding onto a one-shot lead

Jim Furyk has made the turn alone at the top of the U.S. Open and the only player at par.

That might be all it takes to win.

The West Chester native was 1 over through nine holes in the final round Sunday, holding onto a one-shot lead over Webb Simpson while an eerie fog swallowed The Olympic Club. Simpson was 2 under through 12 holes.

Michael Thompson shot a 3-under 67 to take the clubhouse lead at 2 over. The 27-year-old was the runner-up at the U.S. Amateur at Olympic Club in 2007.

Graeme McDowell, even with Furyk at the 54-hole mark, was 3 over on his round. He was tied with Thompson and John Peterson, who was 1 under through 13 holes.

Ernie Els eagled the short par-4 seventh - his second eagle in two days on the unleveled Lake Course - by driving the green and sinking an eight-foot putt to come within a stroke of Furyk. But then the South African left his tee shot short on the eighth, watching it trickle back in the shaved grass some 50 feet and settling for bogey. He also bogeyed the ninth to fall three shots back.

Lost in the fog was Lee Westwood.

The accomplished Englishman, still searching for his first major, never found his tee shot on the par-4 fifth. His drive land left near the towering cypress trees, the same area 1998 winner Lee Janzen's ball landed.

While a gust of wind knocked Janzen's ball loose after several minutes, Westwood wasn't so lucky. He searched with a pair of binoculars but never located the ball, getting shuttled in a cart back to the tee. He double bogeyed the hole to drop to 4 over through 10 holes and likely out of contention.

It was all about saving par.

Furyk has done that better than anybody this week.

Furyk's drive found the left rough on No. 1, he laid up and floated his approach 4 feet short of the pin to save par. McDowell's drive stayed in the fairway - where he has been all week - and his second landed in the shaved grass short of the green, where he two-putted for par.

The only blemish on his round came on the par-4 sixth, when he ran his approach off the back of the green and left his chip shot short. He two-putted for bogey.

Tiger Woods dropped six strokes in the treacherous first six holes, including a double bogey on the par-3 third when he chunked a shot out of the rough and two-putted. He was 5 over through 12 holes - nine shots behind Furyk - and still waiting to end his four-year major drought.

Furyk won at Olympia Fields in 2003 and McDowell took home the title two years ago down the coast at Pebble Beach.


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