Furyk's prowess on the par-3 fourth makes all the difference  PGATOUR.com Contributor MARKHAM, Ontario -- Jim Furyk may or may not own the Canadian Open Presented by Franklin Templeton Investments, having won it now two years in a row. But there's no question he owns the par-3 fourth hole on the North Course at Angus Glen.  Jim Furyk's aim was true on the par-3 fourth at Angus Glen all week. (Adrian Wyld/AP)
He leaped into the lead by making birdies at the first and third on Sunday, then carded a hole-in-one at the fourth. That followed three previous birdies on the hole, which plays longer than 200 yards. Furyk finished 16 under par for the tournament, and five of that came on that single hole. "For me, it was just a dream start. I began the round three shots back and I have a tremendous amount of respect for (third-round leader) Vijay (Singh) and his game,'' said Furyk, who shot 7-under 64 on the par-71 course to close out the 13th title of his PGA TOUR career. "I made a long one, maybe 30 feet, for birdie at the first and about 15 feet for birdie at the third. "Then, obviously, it's a special bonus to hit a 5-iron up there (on the fourth) and have it go in," he added. "That put me into the lead, but I felt that it got me even. I couldn't have asked for a better start.'' Furyk had a five-foot putt up the hill at the final hole for a 63 Sunday, but missed it for his first bogey since the first hole Saturday. That miss, his only three-putt of the week, left him at 16-under-par 268 and gave Singh, who made a great up-and-down from the bunker to save par at the 17th, the opportunity to force a playoff with a final-hole birdie. "That was a little bit of a slip up at 18. I'm glad it didn't cost me,'' Furyk said. "I didn't want to play any more. I wanted to win then and there. But I told my caddie to be ready for a playoff.'' Singh's drive at the 439-yard par 4 landed safely in the fairway, but his 164-yard approach carried long, leaving a twisty 23-foot downhill putt that slid by as Furyk watched from behind the green. "It was a tough putt,'' Furyk said of Singh's possible equalizer. The tournament changed direction on that crucial fourth hole. Furyk's 5-iron, which hopped twice and rolled smoothly into the cup for the ace, lifted him from third place into first outright and capped an incredible display for him on the hole for the tournament. In the first three rounds, he made birdie by canning putts of 10 feet, 44 feet and 18 feet, respectively. Those seven total strokes for four days cannot be verified as a PGA TOUR record. What isn't in dispute is the difference it made in this tournament; Singh totaled 15 strokes on the hole, three bogeys and a par. That's an eight-shot difference on one hole.
"That's an awful lot to overcome,'' Singh acknowledged. "I thought about it going to the next tee,'' Furyk said. "I started going over it in my head. 'Hey, I think I birdied this hole each day.' I said that to (playing partner) Pat Perez, that I was 5 under on that hole. He just shook his head.'' The last back-to-back Canadian Open champion was Jim Ferrier in 1950-51. The lowest final 18 holes by a winner remains Jerry Pate's 63 in 1976 at Windsor Essex Golf and Country Club. Tommy Armour shot 64 in the last round to win the 1930 Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf and Country Club, the site of Furyk's victory last year, when he shot 266. Tommy Aaron also shot 64 to conclude his winning 1969 Open at Pinegrove in Quebec. |
