By JOE JULIANOThe Philadelphia Inquirer

SAN FRANCISCO — It was di� cult to tell Saturday what was more help in bringing the best out of Jim Furyk in the third round of the U.S. Open at the diabolical Lake Course of the Olympic Club.

It could have been the presence of Tiger Woods, who was considered to have the best chance to win of the three men tied for the lead at the start of the round. Or maybe it was the signifi cance of the national cham-pionship, and the chance to win his second, nine years after capturing his fi rst.

Whatever the case, Furyk hit a good share of fairways and greens, saved par four times after hitting his approach shot in bunkers, and fi nished 54 holes in a tie for the lead with Graeme McDowell, meaning two for-mer Open champions will go o� in the fi -nal pairing Sunday.

Furyk, 42, checked in with an even-par 70, beating Woods by a whopping fi ve strokes. He concluded three rounds at 1-un-der 209 where he tied with McDowell, who fi red a 68.

Woods’ 75 shocked a golf-crazed public

Furyk, McDowell lead

C

SPORTSSports Editor Daniel Shirley | dshirley@macon.com | (478) 744-4227Sunday June 17, 2012

THAT’S RACIN’, 11CFormer Nationwide Series crew chief Jason Ratcliff finds success on the Sprint Cup circuit with Joey Logano.

Bill Shanks

We all know there is a lot of money in

baseball. Players are paid enormous amounts of money, and even medio-cre players are usually set for life.

Perhaps the worst thing that can happen to a club is to pay a player who is no longer on the roster.

The Atlanta Braves might be the leader in the clubhouse for that category, and it goes back a few decades.

In November of 1979, then-Braves owner Ted Turner did something outrageous. He gave reliever Al Hrabosky a fi ve-year contract. “The Mad Hungarian,” as Hrabosky was called, had been a pretty decent reliever for St. Louis and Kansas City. He was no Bruce Sutter, but Hra-bosky was pretty good.

That didn’t work out too well. Hrabosky, known for going behind the mound before he pitched and slamming the ball in his glove in a rage, pitched in ex-actly 100 games for the Braves. Hrabosky had just seven saves, and he had an ERA of 3.51. The Braves released him in the middle of the 1982 season.

But Hrabosky’s con-tract called for payments to be spread out across 35 years. Turner report-edly promised Hrabosky that he would teach him all about television, but Hrabosky never appeared on a Braves telecast. He instead went back to St. Louis and is still on the Cardinals’ broadcast team to this day.

Then, a few years later, Turner did it again. He desperately wanted to sign a free agent. The Braves had been spurned by Dave Winfi eld, Don Sutton, Reggie Jack-son and Rich Gossage through the years. So in December of 1984 Turn-er signed Sutter, who at that time was the best reliever in the game.

That was a six-year contract, worth a re-ported $4.8 million — $800,000 per year. After having a 2.72 ERA in four years for St. Louis, Sutter had a 4.55 ERA for the Braves in 112 games. His shoulder was ruined by the time he got to Atlanta.

But his contract reportedly called for deferred payments that would pay Sutter $1.3 million a year for 30 years after the six-year deal was over.

I could not verify if the Braves are still paying Hrabosky and/or Sutter. That’s prob-ably not something they would want to admit. My sources believe that money is somehow “o� the books,” but there is no confi rmation. If the reports were correct, Hrabosky would be paid through 2014 and Sutter through 2021.

Why couldn’t Hra-bosky or Sutter have earned some of that money by helping out

Paying them to play

elsewhere

SEE SHANKS, 3C

The

NUMBERSGame

A look at Middle Georgia’s all-time greats

The game is here

This week: The 90s. Page 8C.

The Telegraph looks at the all-time best

athletes in the midstate by jersey

number in a summer-long series.

CHARLIE RIEDEL/Associated PressTiger Woods, left, caddie Mike “Fluff” Cowan and Jim Furyk wait on the ninth tee during Saturday’s third round of the U.S. Open at The Olympic Club in San Francisco.

By GEORGE HENRYAssociated Press

ATLANTA — Jason Hammel pitched a one-hitter for his fi rst career shutout, allowing only Jason Heyward’s two-out single in the seventh inning, and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Atlanta Braves 5-0 on Saturday night.

There have already been fi ve no-hit-ters in the majors this season, including three this month, and Hammel made a strong bid to add to the list.

Hammel struck out eight and walked two, throwing 65 of 102 pitches for strikes.

Brandon Beachy (5-5) left the game with right elbow soreness in the fourth inning. The major leagues’ ERA leader allowed no hits and one run.

Hammel’s one-hitter gives Orioles victory

BEAU CABELL/bcabell@macon.comCole Tidwell Jr. tees off on the fi rst hole at the Brickyard at Riverside on Saturday during the fi rst round of theMacon-Middle Georgia Championship.

By JOHN KOSATERsports@macon.com

Cole Tidwell Jr. quickly ad-mits that he didn’t hit the golf ball great in the fi rst round of the Macon-Middle Georgia Golf Championship.

He did manage to hit it well enough to be in a four-way battle for the lead with a round of 69, leaving him tied for third with Lee Gerdes, two shots behind fi rst-round leader Taylor Jernigan and one shot behind defending

Battle forms at Brickyard Orioles 5,

Braves 0

Next: vs. Orioles,1:35 p.m., Sunday (Fox Sports South)

SEE GOLF, 3C

SEE OPEN, 3C