Jim Furyk appeared at a First Tee golf clinic last week in St.
Augustine, Fla., and wasn't all that unhappy to field some
questions about the Tiger Woods situation.
Furyk is getting a little weary of the No. 1 question he has
been asked for perhaps the last year, and something different had
to be refreshing.
However, he knows a barrage is coming from the media this
week when he makes his 2010 debut in the Northern Trust Open in Los
Angeles. Everyone wants to know when he is going to win again on
the PGA Tour.
"Every time I've been to the media room, whether it's for
pre-tournament (interview), whether it's for playing pretty well
and coming close, it's something we talk about," Furyk said when he
captured the unofficial Chevron World Challenge in December.
"I'm actually openly talking about it for the last half a
year because it seems to break the ice a little bit where you (the
media) don't have to ask. I know you want to."
The last of Furyk's 13 victories on the PGA Tour came in
July 2007, when he captured the Canadian Open for the second
consecutive year.
For those keeping track at home, that was 30 months ago. He
is 0-for-54 since, the longest drought of his career. It took the
Pennsylvania native 62 tournaments at the start of his career
before he claimed the 1995 Las Vegas Invitational.
"You know, until I win (again) on the PGA Tour, it's going
to keep coming up," said Furyk, who also won the unofficial 2008
Grand Slam of Golf since his last official victory.
"It's been two full seasons. I kind of prided myself on all
those years in a row where I had won a golf tournament, outside of
'04 when I was injured. It's been two seasons where I haven't, so
obviously the goal is to not let that happen again. ... It feels
like about 10 (years). It feels like a long time."
What makes it more frustrating is that Furyk has had his
chances but has been unable to finish.
Since that last victory, he has finished second three times
and third in three other events. Last season, he posted 11 top-10
finishes after recording nine in 2008.
It's not as if he choked. He simply did not hit the big shot
or the key putt.
"I had a couple, in fact, quite a few good opportunities to
win," said Furyk, who turns 40 in May. "So I think that gets
brought up every time you haven't won in a while.
"I'm very happy with the way I've been playing, frustrated
that I haven't closed the door and I haven't taken advantage of
some opportunities."
Furyk had been one of the deadliest putters on the PGA Tour
for years with the cross-handed grip his father and instructor,
Mike, taught him when he took up golf at the age of 12.
However, the putts stopped falling a few years ago, and
although he also fought a balky driver at times, coming up empty on
the greens might have been the biggest reason for the drought.
"He's been in a funk for a couple of years now," Mike Furyk
said in the middle of last season. "If we knew exactly what was
wrong, we'd fix it and there would be no problem."
The son seemed to figure it out down the stretch in the
Chevron World Challenge, where he took advantage of Woods' absence
a little more than a week after the now-infamous Thanksgiving night
SUV accident.
Furyk holed a 40-foot putt for par on the 17th hole to
remain tied for the lead and then sank a six-footer for birdie on
the final hole to win by one stroke over Lee Westwood.
"Hopefully this is a steppingstone and I can keep the
momentum going," Furyk said. "There's still a streak because
everyone's going to say (he hasn't won) on the PGA Tour. January,
everyone's going to forget that I won this golf tournament and
they're going to still say I hadn't won on the PGA Tour. And that's
fine. It is what it is.
"My goal every year is to win, so it bothers me, but I only
have one person to blame, and that's myself. And it would bother
anyone in my position, so the goal is to go and work hard.
"I've identified some problems I've had in this past year
and things that I need to work on. Putting was one of them, as far
as consistency."
Furyk was the latest to chime in on what might happen when
the scandal-ridden Woods returns to the PGA Tour. Furyk said Woods'
friends will encourage him and others might be chilly toward the
No. 1 golfer in the world.
He added that he expects Woods to be back by the Masters.
As far as how he's feeling about getting back into the swing
of things this week, Furyk said: "I'm raring to go."
And ready, he hopes, to finally win again.
