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Jim Furyk

Jim Furyk
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Jim Furyk
JimFurykATTNational1.jpg
Personal information
Full name James Michael Furyk
Born May 12, 1970 (1970-05-12) (age 39)
West Chester, Pennsylvania
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight 185 lb (84 kg; 13.2 st)
Nationality  United States
Residence Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
Spouse Tabitha
Children Caleigh Lynn (b.2002)
Tanner James (b.2003)
Career
College University of Arizona
Turned professional 1992
Current tour(s) PGA Tour (joined 1992)
Professional wins 23
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour 13
Nationwide Tour 1
Best results in Major Championships
(Wins: 1)
The Masters 4th: 1998, 2003
U.S. Open Won: 2003
Open Championship 4th/T4: 1997, 1998, 2006
PGA Championship T6: 1997
Achievements and awards
Vardon Trophy 2006
James Michael Furyk (born May 12, 1970) is an American professional golfer, known for consistently playing at the top level and for a visibly unconventional, looping golf swing. Due to his ability to perform at such a high level despite that swing, his devoted fan base has given him the nickname "The Grinder". In September 2006 he reached a career high of second in the Official World Golf RankingsHe has ranked in the top-10 for over 270 weeks between 1999 and 2009.

Biography

Furyk was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania. His early years were spent in the Pittsburgh suburbs learning the game from his father, who was head pro at Uniontown Country Club near Pittsburgh. He graduated from Manheim Township High School in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 1988 where he was a standout basketball player in addition to being a state champion golfer. He attended the University of Arizona and turned professional in 1992.
Furyk at the 2004 Ryder Cup
Furyk won at least one tournament each year on the PGA Tour between 1998 and 2003. At the time, this was the second best streak of winning seasons behind Tiger Woods and he made the top ten in the Official World Golf Rankings. Furyk's biggest win to date came on June 16, 2003, when he tied the record for the lowest 72-hole score in U.S. Open history to win his first major championship.
In 2004 he only played in fourteen events after missing three months due to surgery to repair cartilage damage in his wrist and he fell out of the top hundred on the money list, but he returned to good form in 2005 and regained his top ten ranking, winning a PGA Tour event in that year and two in 2006.
In the 2006 season, he finished a career-high second on the money list and won the Vardon Trophy for the first time. He also had a career-best thirteen top-10 finishes, including nine top-3s, four second-place finishes, and two victories.
The only instructor he has ever used is his dad, Mike Furyk, which may account for his unusual swing. His caddy is Mike "Fluff" Cowan, who was Tiger Woods' caddy for Woods' first two years as a professional.
During the 2003 Buick Open on-course commentator Mike Hulbert interviewed Furyk from what appeared to be a snack bar during a rain delay while covering the early rounds on USA Network. Other players (who were not visible, nor identified) were in the room at the time of Furyk's interview and proceeded to throw popcorn at them from off camera as the interview progressed. At one point Furyk even held up a golf towel to block the popcorn as it got worse, and he stated that: "It looks like it's pick on Hubby day!"
Jim Furyk at the 2008 Players Championship

The Swing

Jim Furyk's trademark looping golf swing begins with a setup that has the ball at the heel of the club instead of the center, or even out at the toe. This moves his 6'2" frame in so close that his hands are virtually touching his thighs. Most golfers would have a difficult time with a golf club from such a starting point. Compare Furyk's setup to the more textbook setup of Tiger Woods, who begins with his hands 8 inches or so away from his body, a position that promotes a take-away that will put the golf club over his right shoulder at the top, and keep his right elbow tucked against his body. For a human being, this is the classic launch position. Since the beginning of time it has been used to throw a stone, a spear, a baseball, or swing a club. The big muscles of the body--the back, shoulders and thighs--are in control, not the weaker ones in the hands and wrists. The athlete (or hunter in early times) is said to be "loaded." His entire body is poised in the optimum power position.
Jim Furyk, by contrast, takes the club away in the manner of a basketball player shooting a hook shot. His arms move back vertically, and at the top his right elbow "flies" away from his body. Tall players tend toward more upright swings. While this manner of beginning doesn't promote power, it is an early step to facilitate accurate ball-striking. The club's shaft is nearly vertical, like a putter. It moves straight back and straight up, keeping it on path longer, which tends to reinforce in the mind the route along which to bring it back into the ball. At the top of the backswing, Furyk is in the same position as Jack Nicklaus would be--club shaft parallel to the intended line of flight, elbow flying off to who-knows-where. Starting the downswing, Furyk then "corrects" for his unconventional takeaway by dropping his right elbow into the slot where it needs to be, a move that brings the golf club onto the proper swing path to achieve sound results. It's this downswing beginning that produces the idiosyncratic loop in his swing.
As Mike Furyk describes in a Golf Digest issue in 2001, Jim Furyk's hips "underturn" during the backswing and "overturn" coming down. On the downswing, he draws the club in a large arc behind his body (viewing from his right hand side), then pastes his elbow against his right hip at impact. Commentator, Gary McCord, said it looked like Furyk was trying to swing inside a phone booth. Another commentator David Feherty memorably described Furyk's swing as "an octopus falling out of a tree". Others have noted it reminds them of "a one-armed golfer using an axe to kill a snake in a telephone booth."[4]
This move was controversial during Jim Furyk's early career; however, his father never forced him to change what came naturally to him. Jim Furyk's well-known ball-striking precision is now serving him well on the professional tour.
Furyk, however, isn't the first professional golfer to show us that a swing that defies convention--and countless books and articles on golf--can be successful. Nicklaus' swing was upright, with a flying elbow--and one of the biggest loopers of all time was Lee Trevino.

Professional wins (23)

PGA Tour wins (13)

Legend
Major Championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (12)
No. Date Tournament Winning Score Margin of Victory Runner(s)-up
1 Oct 15, 1995 Las Vegas Invitational -28 (67-65-65-67-67=331) 1 stroke United States Billy Mayfair
2 Feb 18, 1996 United Airlines Hawaiian Open -11 (68-71-69-69=277) Playoff United States Brad Faxon
3 Oct 18, 1998 Las Vegas Invitational -25 (67-68-69-63-68=335) 1 stroke United States Mark Calcavecchia
4 Oct 17, 1999 Las Vegas Invitational -29 (67-64-63-71-66=331) 1 stroke United States Jonathan Kaye
5 Mar 6, 2000 Doral-Ryder Open -23 (65-67-68-65=265) 2 strokes United States Franklin Langham
6 Jan 14, 2001 Mercedes Championships -14 (69-69-69-67=274) 1 stroke South Africa Rory Sabbatini
7 May 24, 2002 Memorial Tournament -14 (71-70-68-65=274) 2 strokes United States John Cook, United States David Peoples
8 Jun 15, 2003 U.S. Open -8 (67-66-67-72=272) 3 strokes Australia Stephen Leaney
9 Aug 3, 2003 Buick Open -21 (68-66-65-68=267) 2 strokes United States Briny Baird, United States Chris DiMarco,
Australia Geoff Ogilvy, United States Tiger Woods
10 Jul 3, 2005 Cialis Western Open -14 (64-70-67-69=270) 2 strokes United States Tiger Woods
11 May 7, 2006 Wachovia Championship -12 (68-69-68-71=276) Playoff South Africa Trevor Immelman
12 Sep 10, 2006 Canadian Open -14 (63-71-67-65=266) 1 stroke United States Bart Bryant
13 Jul 29, 2007 Canadian Open -16 (69-66-69-64=268) 1 stroke Fiji Vijay Singh

Nationwide Tour wins (1)

Other wins (9)

Major Championships

Wins (1)

Year Championship 54 Holes Winning Score Margin Runner(s)-up
2003 U.S. Open 3 shot lead -8 (67-66-67-72=272) 3 strokes Australia Stephen Leaney

Results timeline

Tournament 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
The Masters DNP DNP T29 T28 4 T14
U.S. Open T28 DNP T5 T5 T14 T17
The Open Championship DNP DNP T45 4 T4 T10
PGA Championship DNP T13 T17 T6 CUT T8
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
The Masters T14 T6 CUT 4 DNP 28 T22 T13 T33 T10
U.S. Open 60 T62 CUT 1 T48 T28 T2 T2 T36 T33
The Open Championship T41 CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT 4 T12 T5 T34
PGA Championship T72 T7 9 T18 CUT T34 T29 CUT T29 T63
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

Summary of major championship performances

  • Starts - 49
  • Wins - 1
  • 2nd place finishes - 2
  • Top 3 finishes - 3
  • Top 5 finishes - 10
  • Top 10 finishes - 15
  • Longest streak of top-10s in majors - 4

Results in World Golf Championship events

Tournament 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Accenture Match Play Championship R64 R16 DNP R16 R16 DNP R64 R64 R32 R64 R16
CA Championship T11 DNP NT1 T33 T12 T36 T15 4 T35 T2 3
Bridgestone Invitational T10 T4 2 T6 T6 T22 T24 3 DNP T27 T51
HSBC Champions – – – – – – – – – – DNP
1Cancelled due to 9/11
DNP = Did not play
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
NT = No tournament
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

PGA Tour career summary

Year Wins (Majors) Earnings ($) Rank
1994 0 236,603 78
1995 1 535,380 33
1996 1 738,950 26
1997 0 1,619,480 4
1998 1 2,054,334 3
1999 1 1,827,593 12
2000 1 1,940,519 17
2001 1 2,540,734 13
2002 1 2,363,250 14
2003 2 (1) 5,182,865 4
2004 0 691,675 116
2005 1 4,255,369 4
2006 2 7,213,316 2
2007 1 4,154,046 7
2008 0 3,455,714 12
2009 0 3,946,515 7
Career* 13 (1) 42,756,341 4
* Complete at end of 2009 season.

United States national team appearances

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