PETER WHITEFORD JT EIGHTH IN FRANCE

Burning Coles hopes to turn up head on Ahokas

From Challenge Tour Press Officer Paul Symes
On a day when the overnight leaders either stood still or went backwards, flamboyant Finn Antti Ahokas made great strides forward to go into the final round of the ALLIANZ Golf Open Grand Toulouse as the man to catch.
Ahokas, who is easy to spot with his bright blond locks and even brighter trousers, sets the clubhouse target on 16 under par, one stroke clear of Austrian Ronald Steiner, who dropped back to second place with a bogey on the last hole at Golf de Tolouse-Seilh, in south west France. But the big dangers could be the in-form Portuguese José-Filipe Lima and the rejuvenated Englishman Robert Coles, who lurk two shots behind the leader in a group which also includes Switzerland’s Julien Clément, Frenchman Charles-Edouard Russo and Austria’s Martin Wiegele.
Coles might feel aggrieved not be back on The European Tour by now, having looked on course to capture his third Challenge Tour title of the season in Geneva two months ago, only for injury to strike on the third day and force him to withdraw from the event.
The physical injury took around a month to heal but the mental scars lingered a while longer, although Coles feels he is getting back towards the sort of form which saw him win in Morocco and Ireland earlier in the season.
Coles, currently ninth in the Challenge Tour Rankings and all but guaranteed a return to The European Tour, said: “I’ve hit some shots this week which I haven’t hit for a while – probably since my injury. My game hasn’t felt quite right for a while now, but it’s slowly coming back. I’ve been hitting a lot of bad shots and not many good ones recently, which isn’t a great combination!
"But this week has been a different story. I’ve been working hard since I got back from my injury, but I haven’t been quite at the races until the last couple of days. We’re still not quite there, but the signs are definitely better.”
Coincidentally, one of the men who has taken advantage of Coles’ enforced absence through injury is Lima, whose ball the Englishman was running to retrieve when he suffered his calf strain.
In the meantime Lima has climbed to second in the Rankings thanks largely to his victory at last week’s ECCO Tour Championship, and he will now bid to become the first player to win back to back titles on this season’s Challenge Tour.
Lima, whose round of 66 included seven birdies and a solitary bogey, said: “I’m playing well, although I’ve still made some stupid mistakes this week. I set myself the target of shooting ten under, which might sound ridiculous but it’s possible on this course. I was going well today without making many putts, but then I made a mistake on the 15th which set me back a bit. But I came back with a birdie on the 17th, and I have to be happy with a round of 66, because it gives me a real chance for tomorrow."
THIRD ROUND TOTALS
Par 216 (3s72)
200 A Ahokas (Fin) 64 69 67,
201 R Steiner (Aut) 67 65 69,
202 J Clément (Sui) 72 64 66, J Lima (Por) 68 68 66, R Coles (Eng) 68 67 67, C Russo (Fra) 64 69 69, M Wiegele (Aut) 65 72 65,
203 F Colombo (Ita) 67 65 71, S Walker (Eng) 66 70 67, M Zions (Aus) 64 67 72, C Suneson (Esp) 70 67 66, P Baker (Eng) 69 68 66, P Whiteford (Sco) 65 68 70,
204 J Parry (Eng) 66 68 70, S Bebb (Wal) 65 74 65, V Dubuisson (am) (Fra) 69 69 66,
205 A Bossert (Sui) 68 66 71, J Quesne (Fra) 68 66 71, J Caldwell (Nir) 67 72 66, L Bond (Wal) 67 67 71, Å Nilsson (Swe) 67 66 72, N Colsaerts (Bel) 69 62 74, O Floren (Swe) 70 67 68, S Manley (Wal) 65 71 69,
206 A Wagner (Arg) 67 64 75, C Brazillier (Fra) 67 68 71, N Meitinger (Ger) 68 70 68, C Monasterio (Arg) 66 68 72, M Korhonen (Fin) 68 67 71,
207 A Kaleka (Fra) 68 69 70, C Günther (Ger) 69 67 71, A Butterfield (Eng) 67 71 69, B Teilleria (Fra) 69 68 70, A McArthur (Sco) 65 71 71, F Fritsch (Ger) 65 73 69,
208 J Larsen (Nor) 67 68 73, J Moul (Eng) 67 69 72, A Snobeck (Fra) 67 68 73, B Pettersson (Swe) 69 69 70, R Muntz (Ned) 67 70 71, M Reale (Ita) 66 72 70, R McEvoy (Eng) 67 71 70, S Davis (Eng) 69 69 70, R Saxton (Ned) 67 72 69,
209 A Hansen (Den) 68 70 71, D Nouailhac (Fra) 69 70 70, F Calmels (Fra) 67 72 70, S Thornton (Irl) 71 68 70, A Tampion (Aus) 69 66 74, E Moreul (Fra) 67 71 71,
210 C Menut (Fra) 69 70 71, P Gustafsson (Swe) 70 69 71, J Morrison (Eng) 69 69 72, G Boyd (Eng) 68 69 73, B Mason (Eng) 70 69 71, S Jeppesen (Swe) 69 70 71, M Higley (Eng) 70 69 71, B Hebert (Fra) 68 69 73, J Guerrier (Fra) 69 68 73, G Paddison (Nzl) 67 69 74,
211 F Andersson Hed (Swe) 69 70 72, M Tullo (Chi) 64 74 73, L James (Eng) 70 68 73, I Pyman (Eng) 71 68 72,
212 M Haastrup (Den) 67 71 74, G Molteni (Ita) 69 68 75

Paul Symes
Press Officerreat chance for tomorrow.”
None of the overnight leaders managed to break par, as Matthew Zions’ round of 72 saw the Australian remain on 13 under par, whilst Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts dropped back to 11 under par after his 74, with Argentina’s Alan Wagner one shot further back after he signed for a three over par round of 75.
SCOREBOARD TO COME

EUROPEAN TOUR REPORT, SCORES

Drysdale joint fourth as Supermac Ross goes

seven shots clear with a third-round 60

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE
Former English amateur champion Ross McGowan is in sight of his first European Tour title after an amazing third round of 60 at the Madrid Masters today.
The 27-year-old from Surrey is seven shots clear with 18 holes to go at Centro Nacional after Sergio Garcia fell away badly in front of his home fans.
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European Tour's official website
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McGowan had two eagles, 10 birdies and two bogeys to establish the biggest 54-hole lead of the year on the circuit. The previous biggest was four strokes.
Playing alongside him, world No 8 Garcia - joint halfway leader with Scot David Drysdale - bogeyed four of the last seven holes to crash to ninth place, 10 behind.
Drysdale, meanwhile, carded a 69 to leave England's Danny Willett and Frenchman Michael Lorenzo-Vera in joint second place.
It was the second 60 on the European Tour in under a month, but unlike the one by Rafael Cabrera-Bello to win the Austrian Open, McGowan's will not go down in the record books as placing was allowed on the fairways
THIRD ROUND TOTALS
Par 216 (3x72)
192 Ross McGowan 66 66 60
199 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 69 66 64, Danny Willett 66 67 66
200 David Drysdale 66 65 69, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 74 63 63
201 Jorge Campillo (Spa) 67 66 68, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 71 65 65, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 67 65 69
202 Gary Murphy 67 65 70, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 64 67 71
203 Anthony Wall 66 67 70, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 70 69 64, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 69 69 65
204 Alvaro Salto (Spa) 69 67 68, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 70 68 66, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 74 63 67, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 71 67 66
205 Scott Drummond 68 70 67, Simon Khan 68 68 69, Oliver Fisher 65 74 66, Alexander Noren (Swe) 71 67 67, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 72 67 66, Luke Donald 71 69 65, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 69 70 66, Manuel Quiros (Spa) 62 73 70
206 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 69 68 69, Damien McGrane 67 71 68, Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 72 67 67, Gareth Maybin 70 68 68, Marcel Siem (Ger) 67 68 71, David Horsey 66 71 69, Phillip Price 70 69 67, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 69 70 67, Gary Lockerbie 68 70 68, Sam Little 68 70 68
207 Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 70 66 71, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 69 67 71, David Lynn 67 70 70, Paul Broadhurst 71 66 70, Seve Benson 70 69 68, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 68 67 72, Shane Lowry 71 63 73, Barry Lane 68 71 68, Bradley Dredge 69 69 69
208 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 69 69 70, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 71 69 68, Peter Lawrie 69 67 72, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 69 68 71, Stephen Dodd 70 69 69, Santiago Luna (Spa) 70 70 68, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 69 67 72, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 70 67 71, Pablo Martin (Spa) 70 67 71
209 Richard Bland 72 67 70, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 75 65 69, Marc Warren 70 68 71, Paul Lawrie 70 70 69, Luis Claverie (Spa) 69 71 69, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 71 68 70
210 Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 69 69 72, Michael Hoey 69 69 72
211 Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 70 69 72, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 69 71 71, Paul Waring 69 69 73, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 72 67 72, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 71 69 71, Steven O'Hara 71 68 72, Mark Brown (Nzl) 68 72 71
212 Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 70 69 73, Robert Dinwiddie 72 66 74, Lee Slattery 68 68 76, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 71 67 74
216 Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 70 69 77

MADRID MASTERS THIRD-ROUND UPDATE

McGOWAN, OUT IN 30, TAKES UP RUNNING

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
England's Ross McGowan went to the turn in a brilliant 30 strokes to take over the Madrid Masters lead this afternoon.
One behind Spain's Sergio Garcia and Scot David Drysdale at halfway, the 27 year old from Surrey had an eagle and four birdies to charge to 18 under par with a putter he bought on E-bay recently.
Title favourite Garcia was two clear after opening his third round with back-to-back birdies. He picked up further shots on the fifth and eighth yet was suddenly the one doing the chasing again.
Drysdale, like McGowan searching for his first European Tour win, kept his hopes alive with a front nine 33 - but was two behind.
Low scoring was the order of the day again in the Spanish sunshine.
McGowan, who finished his second round with a 15 foot eagle putt, followed birdies on the first and fourth with a 25 footer for another eagle at the next.
Runner-up to amateur Danny Lee in Australia in February and third in Switzerland last month, the former English amateur champion then birdied the seventh and eighth as well.
Swede Niclas Fasth had already posted a 64 - and Luke Donald, who made the halfway cut with nothing to spare at four under, fired a 65.
"My goal was a couple of 64s to get to 20 under and see if it was good enough," he said.
With the way McGowan, Garcia and Drysdale were going the winning score looked likely to be a lot lower.

NEWS FROM THE COURSE
Par 216 (3x72)
Ross McGowan is leading at -20 after 15 holes.
David Drysdale is -18 after 15 holes.

SCOTS' COMPLETED ROUNDS
205 (-11) Scott Drummond 68 70 67.
209 (-7) Paul Lawrie 70 70 69, Marc Warren 70 68 71.
211 (-5) Steven O'Hara 71 68 72

NATIONWIDE TOUR REPORT

Demsey goes three clear at Chattanooga Classic

FROM THE PGA.COM WEBSITE
CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee. Todd Demsey took sole possession of the lead at 13 under par in the second round of the Chattanooga Classic on Friday. David McKenzie, Kyle Reifers, Chris Baryla and Josh Teater are three shots back at 10 under.
Play was suspended at approximately 6:45 p.m. local time due to dangerous weather conditions with 50 players still on the course.
Demsey's 5-under 67 on Friday followed a 64 in the opening round.
"I didn't play quite as well as yesterday, but I hung in there," he said. "I feel pretty good about most parts of my game right now. I made a few bad swings today, but wasn't far off and am pretty happy with how everything turned out."
Demsey, 37, was a two-time All-American at Arizona State University, where he was team-mates with Phil Mickelson. He is playing his ninth full season on the Nationwide Tour since his rookie year in 1995. He also played two seasons on the US PGA Tour, in 1997 and 2008.
Currently 88th on the money list, Demsey needs to get into the top 60 to advance to the season-ending Nationwide Tour Championship at Daniel Island in two weeks. Only the Chattanooga Classic and next week's Miccosukee Championship remain to improve his ranking.
At the conclusion of the Nationwide Tour Championship, the 25 leading money winners earn US PGA Tour cards for 2010 and the top 60 maintain fully-exempt status on the Nationwide Tour.
Reifers, who started the day five shots off the lead, birdied his first six holes in a row and finished with a 7-under-par 65.
Play will resume at 8:30 a.m. local time Saturday. After the second round is completed, the field will be cut to the low 60 and ties and regrouped for the third round with players going off the first and 10th tees in threesomes.
SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
Black Creek Club, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Par 144 (2x72)
*Second round suspended due to lightning; play will resume on Saturday at 8.30am local time. 48 players are still to finish their second round).
131 Todd Demsey 64 67
134 David McKenzie 64 70, Kyle Reifers 69 65, Chris Baryla 66 68, Josh Teater 67 67
135 Tyrone van Aswegen 65 70
136 Troy Kelly 69 67, Wil Collins 67 69, Esteban Toledo 67 69, Geoffrey Sisk 64 72, Jason Schultz 68 68, Hunter Haas 69 67
137 David Peoples 69 68, Jeff Brehaut 69 68, Guy Boros 66 71, Roberto Castro 66 71
138 Doug LaBelle II 69 69, Ian Leggatt 66 72, Martin Flores 68 70, Marco Dawson 69 69, Blake Adams 68 70, Scott Gardiner 67 71, Brendan Steele 72 66, Cameron Percy 72 66, Justin Bolli 71 67
139 Joe Daley 70 69, Brad Fritsch 70 69, Steven Bowditch 73 66, Vance Veazey 74 65, Bob May 71 68
140 Gavin Coles 71 69, Tom Scherrer 70 70, Jon Mills 74 66, Bubba Dickerson 67 73, Len Mattiace 69 71, Bret Guetz 70 70, Tommy Gainey 71 69
141 Drew Laning 73 68, Daniel Summerhays 74 67, Brenden Pappas 73 68, Jonas Blixt 72 69, Omar Uresti 68 73, Bob Burns 70 71, J.J. Killeen 71 70, Bradley Iles 72 69, John Kimbell 68 73, Brock Shaffer 72 69, Steve Friesen 74 67, Shane Bertsch 73 68, Skip Kendall 76 65, Clark Dennis 71 70, Matt Every 71 70
142 Paul Gow 72 70, Dan Woltman 71 71, Henrik Bjornstad 70 72, Justin Hicks 71 71, Jim Gallagher Jr. 71 71, Tjaart van der Walt 72 70
143 Ron Whittaker 72 71, Chris Nallen 71 72, Camilo Benedetti 71 72, Scott Stallings 70 73
144 Bobby Clampett 69 75, Seung-su Han 71 73, Fran Quinn 67 77
145 Jay Delsing 74 71, Ryan Armour 74 71, Kyle Thompson 70 75, Won Joon Lee 76 69, Stuart Deane 72 73, Paul Apyan 76 69, Jonathan Kaye 73 72, Paul Claxton 74 71
146 Steve Allan 73 73, Jim Herman 77 69, Jeff Gallagher 75 71, Steven Alker 73 73, Keoke Cotner 75 71
147 Josh Broadaway 74 73, Rob Garland 74 73, Michael Clark II 75 72
148 Grant Waite 76 72, Brennan Webb 73 75, Mark Harrell
149 Justin Smith 72 77
151 Alex Aragon 79 72, Loren Personett 80 71, David Morland IV 73 78
152 Ewan Porter 76 76, Andrew Buckle 78 74
156 Phil Tataurangi 78 78
157 Oliver West 76 81

PRESS RELEASE

MUNIYAPPA MAINTAINS LEAD IN

HERO HONDA INDIAN OPEN

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE ASIAN TOUR
New Delhi, October 10: Indian C. Muniyappa overcame drama on the final hole to maintain his dream run in the US$1.25 million Hero Honda Indian O pen at DLF Golf and Country Club today.
The rookie Asian Tour professional from Bangalore shot a third round one-under-par 71 for a one-shot lead over compatriots Digvijay Singh and Harendra Gupta, Korean Lee Sung and Australian Marcus Both.
Muniyappa, who started the day sharing the lead with Lee, finished with a three-round aggregate of 10-under-par 206 but he was made to sweat before being able to sign his scorecard.
He had been in the greenside bunker in two on the par-five 18th and when clearing a wrapper from behind the ball he appeared to brush the sand with his club head.
This could have led to a penalty shot but after reviewing television footage and consulting rules officials who were stood next to the bunker the tournament director David Parkin cleared the Indian of any infringement.
“I am very, very happy that is all over. It was a nervous wait,” said Muniyappa, who like many local Indian players comes from a humble background.
The 32-year-old, a professional since 1996, is currently enjoying the finest week of his career and is exceeding all expectations. He has two top-20 finishes to his name this year on the Asian Tour and has won once on the local Indian Tour in an event last season.
His inexperience leading such a big tournament also showed on the par-four 17th, where he hit his tee shot with a four iron into water and took bogey. However he showed his class earlier in the round when, having fallen off the lead, he birdied three holes on the trot from sixth.
Gupta and Both carded the low rounds of the day with 67s while Singh returned 71. Lee, who was born deaf, came in with a 72.
Said Both: “It is a really packed leader board, so it’s wide o pen . Surprisingly nobody really made a move today. It is nice to be in contention again and I am playing quite well so hope to be in the mix tomorrow.”
Singh, who is Jyoti Randhawa’s brother in law, has been struggling with a wrist injury and is delighted be in the hunt. “I had a very patchy round today. My ball-striking was not as good as yesterday. The speed of the greens was also a little quicker as compared to round two so it took some time to adjust.
“My wrist injury has made me a little apprehensive of fading the ball so I’m trying to minimize the number of fades I need to play. Anyone who is at six under or better today will stand a chance in the final round. 13 to 14 under could be the winning score,” said Singh.
First round leader Adam Blyth from Australia , Thailand ’s Kwanchai Tannin, and South African Jbe Kruger are two shots behind the leaders.
India’s Arjun Atwal fired a 70 and is five behind while Daniel Chopra from Sweden carded a 75 and eight shots off the pace.
Leading third round scores:
206 - C. Muniyappa ( IND ) 66-69-71
207 - Harendra Gupta ( IND ) 68-72-67, Marcus Both (AUS) 69-71-67, Digvijay Singh ( IND ) 68-68-71, Lee Sung (KOR) 65-70-72
208 - Jbe Kruger (RSA) 70-68-70, Kwanchai Tannin (THA) 68-69-71, Adam Blyth (AUS) 64-72-72
209 - Mukesh Kumar ( IND ) 71-68-70
210 - Ashok Kumar (IND) 71-71-68, Gaurav Ghei (IND) 70-72-68, Amandeep Johl (IND) 70-71-69, Antonio Lascuna (PHI) 69-71-70, Jason King (AUS) 66-73-71, Unho Park (AUS) 67-72-71, Mars Pucay (PHI) 70-67-73
211 - Udorn Duangdecha (THA) 71-72-68, Arjun Atwal ( IND ) 75-66-70, Keith Horne (RSA) 67-71-73

Nathan Smith wins US mid-amateur for second time

Joint leading qualifier and 2003 champion Nathan Smith defeated Tim Spitz 7 and 6 in the 36-hole final of the United States men's mid-amateur championship at Cassique, Kiawah Island, South Carolina.
Smith, a 31-year-old investment adviser from Pittsburgh, became the fifth multiple-time winner of the event.
Smith was eight-up after the morning round and finished with the third-largest margin of victory since the mid-amateur went to a 36-hole final in 2001.
Smith closed it out in style, landing his approach on No. 12 within 6 inches of the cup. Spitz conceded the match once the pair reached the green.
Smith's next high-profile event should be the Masters in April. Augusta National has generally sent an invitation to the winner of this USGA event.
"I'm speechless," Smith said of a second opportunity to compete at Augusta. "When I was there before, I felt like the luckiest man in the world."

United States lead by point at halfway

in Presidents Cup in California

Overall score: US Team 6, Internationals 5.
Friday four-balls: US Team 3, Internationals 3.
Thursday foursomes: US Team 3, Internationals 2.

FROM THE PGATOUR.COM WEBSITE
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
SAN FRANCISCO -- Justin Leonard took out some of his frustration on the practice green Thursday evening. A few minutes alone in the locker room helped, too.
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Related links
Daily Wrap-Up: Day 2
Saturday's pairings
Friday's Four-ball results
Live Report: Friday Transcripts: What they said Mickelson, Leonard cruise Clark, Weir take on juggernaut
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But as mad as he was at himself for missing the 3-footer at No. 18 that gave the Internationals a halved match in the final foursomes of the opening day (Thursday) of the Presidents Cup, Leonard was more worried about his teammates. He knew the other Americans would wonder how he was handling the disappointment, so he decided to break the ice.
Before Leonard went into the U.S. Team room, he asked Jim Furyk's caddy, Mike (Fluff) Cowan, to go over to the bar and line up five shot glasses filled with water. Then Leonard stormed into the trailer and slammed the door.
"I threw my stuff down on the floor and went straight to the bar and hammered five shots of water," Leonard recalled. "I did chase it with a beer, which the beer tasted a lot better than the water did. But (it was) just to kind of let everybody know that I was okay.
"I think a few of the girls were a little nervous for me when I was doing that, but my wife said she was just kind of rolling her eyes. She knew exactly what I was doing."
With that performance, Leonard was telling his teammates he'd be ready on Friday for his four-ball match with Phil Mickelson -- and he was. The Texan birdied the first hole and sealed the 3-and-2 U.S. victory over Retief Goosen and Adam Scott with an 11-foot putt on the 16th hole.
"We had a fun day today, and I just thought it showed a lot of heart on Justin's part to get the match started the way he did, coming out with a birdie and making that critical putt on the first hole," Mickelson said.
"When we had a chance to take control of the match on 14, he did, he rolled that putt in on the par 3; and we had a chance to close it out on 16 and he knocked that one in, too.
"I thought it showed a lot of class."
Prior to this week, Leonard and Mickelson had played on four Presidents Cups and three Ryder Cups -- yet the two veterans had never been paired together. Both were glad U.S. Captain Fred Couples made the call.
"I've wanted to play with Phil for a long time and I think after what happened yesterday, Phil wanted to play with me," Leonard said. "He's a great coach out there, he's so positive, and he wanted to be the one to help me get through today. I didn't play great, but I played okay, and Phil hit some unbelievable shots out there and I was able to make a couple of putts on the last few holes to help us along.
"It was a lot of fun playing with him."
Within the hour after Leonard finished his match the two were talking about their strategy for Friday's match. By focusing on the future, the 12-time PGA TOUR champ was able to forget the gaffe and move forward.
"So he really helped me mentally get into playing today, and it was nice making that putt at the first hole," Leonard said. "Of course, he did have a little eight-footer inside of me, but still nice to get off to a start like that."
Mickelson and Leonard combined for consecutive birdies at the 13th and 14th holes, respectively, to break open a tight and exciting match. Mickelson's put the Americans 1 up while Leonard capitalised with a 14-footer on No. 14 after both Goosen and Scott found the greenside bunker.
"We were actually sitting on the bench over there on the tee after we both hit and we both hit good shots inside 15 feet or so," Leonard recalled. "And as we were walking up to the green they were both in the bunker and we were talking about (how) ... we need to make one of our putts in order to go 2 up and take control of the match.
"We kind of talked about that for the 170 yards it took us to get to the green. A couple times I had (Phil) help me read putts, and we both agreed on what my putt was going to do. The thing is, he did have a 12-footer or 10-footer right behind me, but it was nice to make that putt."
Then came the 11-footer to win the match and "kind of redeem myself a little bit," Leonard recalled. "We read the putt together and saw the same thing. It felt really nice to make that."
Leonard acknowledges he's "way more equipped to come back from a disappointment like yesterday at this point in my career than I was early on." And that's a good thing, too, since he goes right back out with Furyk again in foursomes on Saturday morning against Scott and Ernie Els.
There will be 10 points available in Saturday's double session. The U.S. holds a narrow one-point advantage after going 3-3 in the Four-ball matches that had earlier appeared headed for an American rout.
"The fact that they won a couple of matches on 18 today, I'm sure they want to feel like momentum is on their side," Leonard said. "But, you know, we did halve this afternoon, and ... with 10 points available tomorrow, five in the morning and five in the afternoon, we feel pretty good about the pairings that we are putting out.
"Everybody is playing pretty well. So go out, focus in the morning and try and get a lead in the morning and build on that momentum in the afternoon."