Love and Furyk hit the front

Last updated: 21st October 2012

Rounds of 66 from Davis Love III and Jim Furyk helped the Ryder Cup duo to move to the top of the leaderboard at The McGladrey Classic.

The two Americans started the third round one shot adrift of overnight leader Arjun Atwal of India, but our-under-pars at Sea Island saw them move to 13-under and two shots clear with only Sunday's finale to come.

Love, who is looking for his 21st career PGA victory but first since 2008, had a mixed day as his round included six birdies and two bogies, including one on the 18th which cost him the outright lead.

Furyk, meanwhile, was impressive as he grabbed back-to-back birdies at the second and third holes, another at the sixth and one more on the 10th.

"He was real close to an All-Star, hero year," Love said of Furyk. "And that showed today. He came out firing and looked like he was going to birdie every hole."

Furyk added on www.pgatour.com: "You get your tail kicked in this game a lot and I think it makes the good times and the wins that much sweeter.

"I'm not one of those people that after those events, I never sat back and didn't work. It made me work harder."

Furyk conceded that low expectations before the tournament started worked in his favour.

"If I now said, 'OK, I'm tied for the lead and there's only one round to go' and I try to flip my mindset, I'm going to get tight and it's going to be harder to score," he said.

"I had played a lot of golf, I was tired, so I was trying to get away and felt that was the best thing I could do at the time, so I came in here just not really expecting that much.

"I know I'm playing well, I know my game's in good shape, so let's see what happens. And I'm going to do the same thing tomorrow."

Atwal (69) is tied for third with American DJ Trahan (66) at 11-under while Bud Cauley of the United States is another stroke behind.

Defending champion Ben Crane remains in contention after he carding a 62 to claim a share of sixth at nine-under par.

"Worked on the putting and found a little something that helped," the American said. "I started making 15 or 20 footers. Didn't really hit it close. Just kept making putts from the other side of the green. All in all it was a great day."