Golf-Belly putter gives Furyk major spark at PGA Championship

JOHNS CREEK, Georgia, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Having struggled for form for much of this season, Jim Furyk decided to switch back to the belly putter just over a week ago and the move has reaped rich reward at this week's PGA Championship.

Stroking the ball superbly on the pure greens at Atlanta Athletic Club, the former U.S. Open champion fired a flawless five-under-par 65 in Friday's second round to surge into a four-way tie for third, one off the pace.
"When I made a mistake, when I missed a fairway, when I missed a green, when I had that 10-footer for par, I was able to knock it in," American Furyk told reporters after posting a four-under total of 136 in the year's final major.
"I capitalised on more birdie putts today. I really don't feel like I hit it any better by any means but I was just able to score and get the ball in the hole, and kind of keep the momentum going.
"I'm happy with my situation right now. I'm going to be one back, right in the thick of things, teeing off late tomorrow. Really, I'm not really worried about everyone else."
Furyk began the second round eight shots behind pace-setting American Steve Stricker and ended it just a stroke adrift of two more Americans, the unheralded Jason Dufner and PGA Tour rookie Keegan Bradley.
"The golf course definitely played different today in the afternoon," said Furyk, a 16-times winner on the PGA Tour. "It was much drier, a little bit firmer and the greens, some of them got quite firm in spots.
"It's a tough golf course but I played a very solid round today."
Furyk produced the most successful season of his career last year with three wins on the PGA Tour, securing FedExCup honours and the $10 million bonus with his final victory at the Tour Championship.
Since then, however, he has recorded just two top-10s in his 2011 campaign along with seven missed cuts on the U.S. circuit, prompting him to resort to the belly putter before last week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
"This is maybe the third or fourth attempt in my career to go to the belly putter, dating back to probably in 2001 or 2002," said the 41-year-old, who claimed his only major title at the 2003 U.S. Open.
"I tried it a little bit last year in the (FedExCup) playoffs and threatened a little bit earlier this year. Finally in my week off before the Bridgestone event, I put it in play at home.
"I still need to get maybe a little bit more comfortable with it, but it feels a lot better than what I was doing before. I like the position I'm at."