Tougher challenge at sunny Oak Hill for final round

Rochester: Warm, sunny weather and quickening greens greeted the early starters in Sunday's final round at the PGA Championship as overnight leader Jim Furyk prepared for a mid-afternoon teeoff.

Only seven players were under par for the day in the early going at Oak Hill Country Club where British Open champion Phil Mickelson, second-last in a field of 75 after the third round, was two over after 15 holes.

With little margin of error in approaching Oak Hill's smallish greens as they continued to dry out and speed up in blazing sunshine, Mickelson was on a roller-coaster ride at 12 over for the tournament.

Always unpredictable and exciting to watch for the fans, the American left-hander had piled up four birdies, one bogey, a double and a triple after teeing off in the second pairing of the day. Four-times champion Tiger Woods, whose bid for a first major title in five years unravelled as he shot scores of one-over 71, 70 and 73 to sit 13 strokes off the pace overnight, was level for the day after parring his first two holes.

Most fans at Oak Hill, however, were waiting for the later starters to set out as the year's final major began to build toward a likely exciting finale given its high-quality and tightly bunched leaderboard. Furyk, bidding for a second major title a decade after claiming his first, was scheduled to tee off at 2:55 pm (1855 GMT) in the final pairing with fellow American Jason Dufner, who was alone on second place overnight.

Furyk seized control by carding a two-under 68 on Saturday to post a nine-under total of 201, and was aiming to follow up with another sub-par score on Sunday. "Overall, I'm comfortable with where I'm at," the 43-year-old said. "There's a crowded leaderboard at the top and instead of really viewing it as who is leading and who is not, I'm really viewing it as I need to go out there tomorrow and put together a good, solid round of golf, fire a good number and hope it stacks up well."

Henrik Stenson, hunting a first major title, goes into the final round two shots off the pace at seven under, a stroke better than fellow Swede Jonas Blixt. Masters champion Adam Scott of Australia and American Steve Stricker were tied for fifth at five under with defending champion Rory McIlroy also in the mix, at three under, after resurrecting his title defence with a superb 67 on Saturday.