Furyk's game in fine shape heading into home event

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Jim Furyk has never won THE PLAYERS, but the veteran heads into this week's event with two straight top-10 finishes. His solid iron play usually translates well to the Stadium Course's tiny greens. (Getty Images)

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- He's really not that old, but when he takes off his cap, the balding Jim Furyk does look like an elder statesman.

On Monday, he sounded like one, too.

The 38-year-old, who lives just a short commute from TPC Sawgrass, took some time after a practice round for THE PLAYERS Championship to discuss a little of this, a little of that. And, of course, talk about his game going into the week.

"It's in pretty decent shape,'' Furyk said of his game. "I've been playing pretty well the last couple of months and I've had some good finishes. I had a real good opportunity to win at Doral and I've had a lot of other finishes that were close. I've got a few things to work on, but I'm happy, I'm pleased with the way things are going.''

Furyk's game usually starts rounding into form in March and he has a tie for second at the World Golf Championships-CA Championship as evidence. He's added two more top-10s since, as well as a tie for fifth at the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship, and he's climbing back up the world rankings.

In fact, Furyk's seventh-place finish at the Wachovia Championship Sunday moved him to seventh in the world and put a smile on his face heading into THE PLAYERS, where his best finish was a tie for third in 2006.

Last year the course played firm and fast and Furyk liked the greens. This year, he said, it's going to be firmer and faster.

"I think it's a better challenge,'' he said. "This golf course was meant to be played fast and it gives us an opportunity to do that.''

Gone are the days of Greg Norman cruising to a record 24-under-par total here. Or Fred Couples and Nick Price winning at 18 under. Now, Furyk said, officials can set the golf course up for whatever range they want.

"They could get it back to 5 under if they want and they could probably have 15-under pretty easily,'' he said. "But I expect its going to pretty much fall in the middle."

Among the other things Furyk, the statesman, weighed in on:

• Anthony Kim, the 22-year-old who broke through with his first PGA TOUR win Sunday at Quail Hollow Club: "People don't realize how young he is ... I mean, no fear. He's confident. You can tell just by the way he walks, the way he acts, that he believes in himself. I wouldn't call him cocky, because I think that's a negative connotation. But he's very, very confident.''

• On learning from the TOUR's elders when he was young: "I remember playing a practice round with Tom Kite. He didn't know but I was kind of following him around and he was doing something on the green and I finally said, what the hell is this guy doing? ... What are you looking at? And he said, 'I'm looking at the green and how the shot is coming in.' He just started explaining it and I went, 'Hmmm, that makes sense.' It never crossed my mind (before), but I kind of scratched my head and said, 'All right, I've got to learn a little bit more here, learn the courses better.''