The 19^th Hole

August 7, 2006

Thank You, Jim Furyk

Jim Furyk has never been ranked higher than he is right now – which is fourth, for those of you out there who don’t know.  He is having a career season in terms of quality of play and money earned with a win at the Wachovia Championship, six top 3 finishes, and nearly $4.7 million in earnings.  By any measure, Furyk could be considered the second or third best player on Tour this year.

I am not thankful for the fact that Furyk is having his best season now, but am praising Jim for the timing of his excellent play.  In the last four events he has played, Tiger Woods has joined him in the field (US Open, Western Open, British Open, and Buick Open).  For four straight events, Furyk has ended up in the top five, with silver medalist honors at the US Open and this week’s Buick Open.  No other player in that stretch has come even close to playing as well as Tiger Woods.

While Tiger did not play well at the US Open, Furyk proved he has the game to win the most grueling major one more time.  Furyk defended his Western Open title with vigor and competed against Woods, though neither wound up as champion.  Even though Furyk did not factor into the equation on Sunday at Royal Liverpool, Furyk did outplay his links abilities that he has displayed to date for the first three days of the championship.

That brings us to this week in Michigan and the Buick Open, where Furyk had nearly 30 consecutive rounds under par, including a victory.  He trailed the leaders, including Woods, by four shots going into the final round.  Being the grinder that he is, Furyk was unfazed by the deficit and played a sparkling front nine on Sunday at Warwick Hills.  Realizing he had a legitimate opportunity to threaten Woods, he then proceeded to play an even better side coming home with a 31 that featured five birdies in six holes.

For a time, Furyk nodded up with Woods atop the leaderboard and the fans in Michigan were definitely thrilled to see someone actually challenge the man who is 20-0 when leading after 54 holes with a two or more shot advantage.  Golf fans are always looking for a legitimate challenger to Tiger’s dominance, especially when he is a ridiculous -42 in his last eight rounds of tournament golf.

Sure, Furyk ran out of holes and had to succumb to going down in the record books as the guy who finished in second place when Tiger reached 50 PGA Tour victories.  But, he will also go down as the only guy that week who made any kind of legitimate charge at the greatest golfer of our generation.

Jim Furyk will gladly tell you that Tiger Woods is in a class all of his own, and Woods proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt this week.  But, for the last four weeks, and really all season, Furyk has proved that he can compete with Tiger Woods on a week to week basis.  He is yet to beat Tiger this season for a victory, but Furyk has been an incredibly steady thorn in his side.  That’s really all you can ask from a rival, short of beating Woods one-on-one.

And, trust me, that will happen in due time if Furyk keeps playing the way he has been this season.  With the PGA Championship coming up in two weeks and being staged on the longest course in major championship history, Furyk may not be able to prove his worth against Woods there.  For as straight as Furyk hits the ball, he is still miles behind the longest bombers on Tour and will struggle at times to adjust his game to regular mid to long iron approaches into Medinah’s greens.

On courses where the field is leveled out, like Warwick Hills, Furyk shows that he has all of the talent and ability to be a top 3 player in the world.  The problem is that majors are staged on courses like Medinah that reward the longest hitters and favor a power game that has passed by Furyk.  This new style of golf limits the field of champions, but saddest of all, neglects the way the game should really be played – the way Jim Furyk plays golf.

Ryan Ballengee is host of The 19^th Hole Golf Show, found at The Golf Newsnet.com.  You can also get The 19^th Hole on the go through podcasting by clicking here Feedburner.com - The 19th Hole Golf Show.  Contact Ryan via e-mail at the19thholeshow@hotmail.com.

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