Tommy Fleetwood and the rest of the European Ryder Cup team broke American captain Jim Furyk’s heart last September.
On a challenging Sunday at The Players Championship, the 48-year-old Furyk schooled Fleetwood, Jon Rahm and every other would-be contender except one.
Furyk started his final round in the light rain and heavy winds and was his tough, deliberate self all day. He overcame an opening bogey with the ultimate bounce-back — an eagle at the par five second. Another birdie at the fifth got him to the turn 12-under par.
He sent his message to the rest of the field with back-to-back birdies at 10 and 11 and he was grinding from there. His only mistake came when he missed the green at the 15th and chipped one that left him inside four feet for par. He missed. It was his only short miss. He bounced back from it with a birdie at 16 then hit a great shot into the devilish 17th. It looked like his ball was headed right into the hole from 15 feet but at the last second, it skimmed the right side of the hole.
At 18 Furyk hit a perfect drive and a spectacular approach that left him a virtual kick-in for a closing 67 and a 15-under total that was good for the early clubhouse lead. Only the late heroics of winner Rory McIlroy kept Furyk from becoming the oldest winner of this prestigious event.
At the beginning of the week, Furyk was simply fortunate to be in the field.
“I mean, to go back to a week ago today, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to be in the field, so found out kind of late Sunday that I was definitely in, last guy in the field. I really liked the state of my game, the way I was playing,” he said. “I played a great event at Honda, and just was excited. I mean, I knew how well I was playing and wanted some opportunities to get out there on the golf course.
“That’s the way I treated the whole week, really just an opportunity. You know, I feel like — a shot here, a shot there maybe could have been a little different, but ultimately I left it all out there, and it was nice to — I really have felt like to this point my game was in good shape. I felt like I trusted it, but it was also nice to get in contention to get under the heat, to have to hit shots under a lot of pressure, and then to respond well to that and hit some good golf shots, it’ll be a confidence boost going forward. Haven’t been in that position in a while.”
He remembered the costly miss at 15:
“I missed a little one on 15. I can look back at that. I didn’t feel comfortable over it. I should have backed off. I putted great all week. My putting stats were phenomenal this week. I putted beautiful today. I made everything that was makeable for the most part. I missed that little one. So as far as — I don’t feel any less pride for the way I played because I didn’t win. And because it was Rory, I mean, probably doesn’t take any sting out of it. I have a lot of respect for his game. I have a lot of respect for him as a person. But it still stings. I mean, I’m a competitor, and I want to win, and it pisses me off I didn’t.”
