Oosthuizen the main threat to Furyk’s lead

Furyk was five strokes clear at one stage during his round but it was cut to just one at the finish after only managing to go round the Akron course in level par to remain on 11 under overall.

Oosthuizen moved into second place with three birdies in his last 10 holes after he had bogeyed the par-four eighth, while Keegan Bradley was a further three shots back in third. Furyk, who followed up an opening-round 63 with a four-under 66 at the Firestone CC (South Course) on day two to open up a two-stroke lead, was rather more subdued on Saturday.

He picked up just the one birdie at the par-five second to move to 12 under but fell back after dropping a shot at the par-three 13th. His closest challenger overnight had been Rafael Cabrera Bello but the Spaniard saw his chances of victory evaporate after an horrendous seven-over-par 77 that dropped him back to two under. It was therefore left to 2010 Open champion Oosthuizen to close the gap on Furyk. Bradley has a chance of catching the frontrunners after his three-under-par 67.

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy was a shot further back in a tie for fourth overall alongside Steve Stricker of the United States. Justin Rose’s round of 66 put him on five under alongside Bo Van Pelt and John Senden, while world number one Luke Donald and Jason Dufner were a further shot adrift.

McIlroy feels his confidence starting to return after a disappointing few months in which he missed the cut at three of his five tournaments before finishing joint 60th at The Open last month. “It’s getting there, it definitely is. Obviously my expectations every time I tee it up are pretty high, but I feel like I’m definitely moving in the right direction,” said the world No 3.