Jim Furyk knows what it takes to win the US Open, and it usually doesn’t include a lot of fireworks.
“I plodded along today,” said Furyk, who shared the 36-hole lead on Friday with Tiger Woods and David Toms.
Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell found the term “plodder” a bit unflattering, but Furyk just felt it fit.
“The way the golf course is set up, that’s pretty much what you need to do,” said Furyk, who carded a one-under 69 for 139.
“It’s get the ball in the fairway or in a playable spot as best you can, get the ball on the green or in a playable spot as best you can and try to make par.
“So I’m just trying to plod, I think that’s a good word. You take what the course gives you and play the best you can from there.”
Toms, who won the 2001 USPGA Championship, thought “grind” was a good word.
He surrendered two shots in Olympic’s daunting first six holes, but said he knew that wouldn’t have cost him too much in relation to the rest of the field.
“I just hung in there and just kept grinding away like you have to do in a US Open,” Toms said after his 70.
“I was fortunate to make a couple of birdies there on the back nine and just hung on after that and had a nice round of even par.”
To be leading the tournament, after missing the cut in his last two USPGA Tour starts, was a welcome change, especially playing alongside US Ryder Cup captain Davis Love.
“That was really part of my goal this week — to play a little better in front of our Ryder Cup captain, and I was able to do that,” Toms said.
“The fact that I’m leading or tied for the lead in the US Open is great, but just to be able to turn it around and play really solid golf after the way I played the last couple tournaments has been nice to be back in the hunt.”
Furyk, whose US Open triumph nine years ago came at Olympia Fields near Chicago, missed the cut at Congressional last year.
At 42, he said he feels his opportunities to add another major title to his resume dwindling.
“I realise that the window’s not wide open anymore,” he said. “I have a lot more good years behind me than I probably do ahead of me. But I still feel like I’ve got some game.
“I’ve always said we’re judged by the number of events we win and by the number of major championships we win, and it would be an honour, it would be a blessing, for me to get another major championship under my belt.”