Keegan Bradley Overtakes Jim Furyk To Win Bridgestone Invitational

Not a bad tune-up for the first major championship defense of Keegan Bradley’s two-year PGA Tour career. With an improbable par from a plugged lie in a green-side bunker on the 72nd hole at Firestone Country Club, the reigning PGA champ fired a flawless, final-round 6-under 64 to stun 54-hole leader Jim Furyk and win the Bridgestone Invitational by one shot over Furyk and Steve Stricker.

Bradley, who won his third tour title, drilled a 16-footer for par as Furyk’s short game -- which propelled his game all week -- fell apart on the last hole. Furyk’s second shot found the rough in front of the bunker that buried Bradley’s ball, and his chip shot fell short of the green.

Jim Furyk has been the wire-to-wire leader of the 2012 Bridgestone Invitational, but the defending PGA Championship winner is challenging him the weekend before the Tour’s final major.

Keegan Bradley is 5-under on Sunday through 14 holes, and 12-under for the tournament, putting him just one shot off Furyk’s lead at 13-under.

A heavy rainstorm that delayed the final round of the Bridgestone Invitational has given way to low scoring as the leaders enter the back nine.

Jim Furyk, looking hold off a slew of contenders, remains three strokes ahead of Louis Oosthuizen at 13-under as the two enter the back nine of Firestone Country Club.

The leaders are finally off at Firestone’s South Course and veteran Jim Furyk is looking to go wire-to-wire for the WGC win. Furyk is trying to hold off hard-charging South African Louis Oosthuizen. Both teed off just before 1 p.m. ET, and with the course softened after the nearly 3-hour morning rain delay, Furyk and Oosthuizen immediately took advantage by firing darts into the first three holes.

The Tour instituted lift, clean, and place for the final round so there’s bound to be some low numbers on Sunday. They went birdie-for-birdie on the first two holes, and then Furyk drained another on the third while Oosthuizen missed a five footer to drop two shots back. The second, an uphill par-5, presents one of the easier birdie opportunities on the course and both took advantage. Furyk just barely missed an eagle, leaving his putt inches short.

A storm front moving through northern Ohio has suspended final-round play for the WGC Bridgestone Invitational.

With just over half of the field out on the course, the remaining tee-times have been adjusted, with play expected to continue just after high noon. Players are already back out on the driving range after a near three-hour delay.

The 2012 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational concludes Sunday with the final round from the Firestone Country Club. Jim Furyk has led after each of the first three rounds; he holds but a narrow one-stroke lead heading into the final round.

Furyk begins Sunday at 11-under, one stroke ahead of Louis Oosthuizen who is 10-under. Those two will be joined by Keegan Bradley in their group Sunday. Rory McIlroy and Steve Stricker begin the day tied for fourth place at 6-under, they will be paired with Bo Van Pelt who begins the day six-strokes behind at 5-under.

Just as he did after the first and second rounds, Jim Furyk sits atop the leaderboard after the third round of the 2012 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

Furyk’s third round was full or pars as he finished the day with one birdie, one bogey and 16 pars. While his even-par 70 was not one of the low rounds of the day, it was enough to keep him in the lead at 11-under. Louis Oosthuizen cut into Furyk’s lead with a third round 68. He will begin the final round one stroke behind at 10-under.

There’s certainly plenty of golf to go before a winner is crowned, but the 2012 Bridgestone Invitational is turning into Jim Furyk’s event to lose.

Through nine holes on Saturday’s third round, Furyk holds a firm four-shot lead. He’s got one birdie and no bogeys so far on the day.

The first page of the WGC Bridgestone Invitational leaderboard are all just starting their third round, and neither Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson look as though they will challenge for the win.

Woods, who entered the day tied for 44th place, shot a 2-under 68 to move to even par through 54 holes, well off leader Jim Furyk’s 11-under score throug 36 holes but up into the top 30 overall.

The 2012 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational continues Saturday and Jim Furyk begins the weekend with a two-stroke lead at 11-under. Furyk followed a first-round 63 with a second-round 66 and he’s held the lead after both rounds.

Saturday, Furyk will play with Rafael Cabrera-Bello, who begins the day in second place at 9-under. Luke Donald, the current No. 1 player in the world, is tied for sixth place, but sits six strokes behind Furyk. Tiger Woods had a shot to overtake the world No. 1 ranking with a win this weekend, but he sits 13 strokes behind at 2-over.

Only two strokes separate Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson as they enter the weekend at the Bridgestone Invitational, but to hear them talk about their short games, one could conclude that the two superstars were light years apart in their confidence on the greens.

“I hit it good, made nothing, and we can all go eat now,” Woods told reporters in a short but sweet summation of his 2-over 72 in Friday’s second round that put him 13 shots back of 36-hole leader Jim Furyk.

During a round where he recorded what commentator Peter Oosterhuis referred to as “the worst three-putt of his career”, Tiger Woods finds himself at 2-over par at the 2012 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club.

The above remark came at Tiger’s expense after he made bogey at no. 7 after reaching the green in regulation but proceeded to three-putt. As is usually the case when Woods plays poorly, the flatstick caused more harm than good during Friday’s second round. Woods struggled most of the day, recording four bogeys and only two birdies en route to a disappointing 2-over 72 on the day.

Phil Mickelson might want to book some time on the practice range with Ben Crane. Thursday at the Bridgestone Invitational, while Mickelson was failing to break par (1-over 71) for the 10th PGA Tour round in succession, Lefty’s newest star pupil was firing an opening round 66 and playing himself into a share of third place.

Crane, it turned out, has spent some time with the four-time major winner over the last few weeks -- including a practice session on Wednesday when he and his new best friend beat up on Dustin Johnson and another Mickelson acolyte, Keegan Bradley -- and immediately put his mentor’s tips to excellent use.

2012 Masters champion Bubba Watson finished in a tie for third after the first round. He will play with 2012 British Open champion Ernie Els on Friday. Els is currently tied for 60th place at 3-over. Tiger Woods, who could regain the world No. 1 ranking with a win this weekend, begins play Friday at even-par.

Television coverage of the second round will air on the Golf Channel from 2 to 6 p.m. ET. The complete list of tee times for Friday’s second round can be found below. All times are Eastern.

Jim Furyk set a blistering pace on Thursday at Firestone Country Club’s South Course to take a two-shot lead at 7-under after the first round of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. Furyk shot an incredible 63 that even included two bogeys. It was a performance comparable to Adam Scott’s opening-round 62 last year in Akron, Ohio, as the Aussie went on to win the WGC event. Furyk made the turn with three straight birdies on Nos. 16 through 18, and then converted an eagle at the uphill par-5 second. It was a red-hot round in which he carded birdies or better on eight holes.

Furyk has long been one of the world’s elite players, but the signature moment of his summer was his struggle down the stretch at Olympic. This limited-field event boasts all the best players on the planet and a win here would be a huge boost heading into the PGA Championship at Kiawah next week.

Keegan Bradley, the first PGA Tour golfer to win a major with a belly putter, won’t deploy a whole lot of brain power worrying about whether golf’s governing bodies will ban the flat stick he rode to victory at the 2011 PGA Championship. In fact, Bradley said Wednesday, if the USGA and Royal & Ancient take away his Odyssey White Hot XG Sabertooth, he’ll simply switch back to a conventional blade.

“I putted with a short putter all growing up. I’m not scared at all to have to putt with a short putter,” Bradley told reporters before Thursday’s start of the Bridgestone Invitational, which Adam Scott won last year with an even longer putter. “Belly putter for me is just a comfortable way to putt. I just feel comfortable with it. For some people, they don’t.”

If you’re a PGA Tour player, what’s not to like about the FedEx Cup series, what with its $10 million jackpot for the winner of the four-event series? Nothing, as far as Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson are concerned -- although it has not always been thus for the 2011 U.S. Open champ, who in the past ditched the so-called playoffs because he could not squeeze them into his frenetic schedule.

It was just two years ago when McIlroy quit the PGA after winning his first U.S. title because he was homesick for his then-girlfriend Holly Sweeney in Northern Ireland, and because the season-ending series required too much playing time.

When the 2012 WGC Bridgestone Invitational tees off this week at Firestone Country Club, one man will be looking to regain his dominance at a course no other player alive has won at more often: Tiger Woods.

To say that Woods has played well at Firestone would be a huge understatement. During the span of his career, Woods has won a golf tournament at this course seven times in 13 attempts. Should he prevail this week in Akron, Ohio, Woods will become the first player in PGA Tour history to win eight titles on the same golf course. His last two efforts at Firestone have been lackluster (second-to-last finish in 2010, T-37 in 2011), but his rejuvenated play in 2012 suggests he has turned the proverbial corner.

Phil Mickelson, who blamed his recent stretch of lousy golf on lethargy and lack of focus, said Monday that he expected his performance to improve substantially this week at the Bridgestone Invitational.

“This last week was a great week for me practice‑wise. I feel like my game has really made a turn,” Mickelson told reporters gathered at Bethpage State Park ahead of next month’s kick-off to the 2012 FedEx Cup playoff season, The Barclays.