Golf:Sean O'Hair banished recent poor form with a sparkling seven-under 64 to grab a share of the lead with fellow American Jim Furyk after the second round of the Deutsche Bank Championship yesterday.
O'Hair, who shot a pair of 77's to miss the cut at the Barclays Classic last week, notched six birdies and an eagle in a sizzling eight-hole stretch to finish with Furyk on 12-under for a total 130 at the Boston TPC.
South African Retief Goosen (67) and Australian Marc Leishman (62), trailed the leaders by two strokes, while Tiger Woods (67) rallied with four late birdies to pull within seven.
O'Hair, Furyk and Goosen played in the same threesome in the first two rounds, shooting a combined 34-under.
"It was a lot of fun," said O'Hair, who worked hard with his coach earlier this week after his early exit at New Jersey.
"I thought I'd never make a birdie again, to be honest.
"I struck it really nicely today, gave myself a lot of opportunities for birdie and rolled it really nicely, just good speed control with the putter," added the 27-year-old, who collected his third PGA Tour victory at Charlotte in May.
Pádraig Harrington shot a second consecutive 67 to be four off the lead on eight-under.
Furyk, who shared the first round lead with Steve Stricker after not missing a single green in regulation, was not quite as sharp on Saturday, but did enough to hold ground.
"I hit a few bad shots, got loose once in a while, but was able to score well all day," he said. "When I made a mistake or hit a bad shot, I was able to make par most of the time.
"Obviously it was not the round I played yesterday, but it was a good score and the goal was accomplished to put myself in good position for the last two rounds."
Goosen struggled to stay in touch early, but came home strongly with four birdies on his back nine.
"It looked like I was shooting 80 at one stage," he said. "It's been an amazing three-ball, the three of us. We've played very well together."
Woods was in danger of missing the cut halfway through his round, but found his range with his irons to make a series of precise approach shots on the way back to the clubhouse.
"I wanted to give myself a chance," Woods said. "I could have had a really low round. I had five lip-outs today. That's about par for the course right now."
Australian John Senden scored the second albatross of his career after his second shot - a four-iron from 250 yards - holed out at the par-five second.
The spectacular approach helped Senden to a 64 and a place three strokes behind the leaders.
"It landed right on line so I thought it was going to be reasonably close and then they all yelled and screamed, so it was good fun," he said.
Seventy-three players made the cut at one-under 141.
The Deutsche Bank Championship is the second of four play-off events on the PGA Tour, awarding a €7million prize for the overall winner. American Heath Slocum clinched the first, the Barclays Classic, last Sunday.
