Furyk takes control in Tampa PGA event

“It's not really, 'I want to show you' or anything like that,” Furyk said after shooting a 4-under 67 to open a three-shot lead. “It's more that I just want to win a golf tournament.”

Furyk has heard one question “What has kept you from winning?” far too often since his victory in the 2007 Canadian Open. With a round as flawless as the spring weather in Florida, he put himself in great position to answer it. He made consecutive birdies early on the back nine, and kept bogeys off his card for his first 54-hole lead in nearly three years.

Pressure? No more than usual.

“It's not really a monkey-off-my-back perspective or 'Boy, I can't wait to not answer that question again,'” Furyk said. “It's just that I want to go out and win a golf tournament. That's what we play golf for. That's what I practice hard for. And I haven't been able to do that in over 2 1/2 years.

“It's disappointing, because I work pretty hard at it.”

Furyk was at 11-under 202, with a strong group of contenders behind him.

Defending champion Retief Goosen birdied the last hole of a roller-coaster round that gave him a 1-under 70, part of four-way tie for second. The others at 8-under 205 were two past champions at Innisbrook K.J. Choi (67) and Carl Pettersson (70) and Bubba Watson, who has never won on tour. He scrambled for a 70.

Padraig Harrington, a three-time major champion who hasn't won since the 2008 PGA Championship, went 14 holes without a birdie to fall out of the lead, then dropped another shot on the 18th hole for a 72 that left him four shots behind.

Furyk last had a 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour at Colonial in 2007, when he lost in a playoff to Rory Sabbatini.

There have been times when he let tournaments get away down the stretch, and times when he was beaten, such as the Memorial last year when he was three shots better than everyone in the field except one guy Tiger Woods who won by a shot.

Sunday might be his best chance.

The few times when Furyk made a mistake, such as missing the green on the par-3 fourth, he made up for it with his putting. Later in the warm afternoon, when he was giving himself so many birdie chances, he had to settle for par.

The turning point came early on the back nine.

Four players had at least a share of the lead at some point, and eight players were within range until Furyk hit a 3-wood just left of the green on the par-5 11th and chipped to 4 feet for birdie. On the next hole, he hit 7-iron to some 35 feet behind the flag, and poured in a long, slippery put that broke sharply to the cup.

Suddenly, he was three shots clear and his prospects were looking up.

Not so for Pettersson, who closed out the front nine with consecutive bogeys, or Steve Stricker, who was tied for the lead until hitting his tee shot in the water on the par-3 13th and scrambling for bogey. Stricker dropped another shot on a par 3 coming in for a 71, and wound up five shots behind.

Choi is a two-time winner in Tampa and feels as comfortable on the Copperhead course as any.

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