Football fan Furyk hopes to make a big gain on Sunday
By Dave Shedloski, PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent
KAPALUA, Hawaii -- Jim Furyk emerged from the scoring trailer Saturday afternoon at the Plantation Course assuming a determined veneer. Asked if he would consider spending a few minutes with GOLF CHANNEL to talk about his third-round 66 in the Mercedes-Benz Championship, Furyk gave a firm reply.
| Inside the Numbers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Furyk thru 54 holes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
"Yes, but just a few minutes," he said.
He had places to be. Being on television wasn't as important as getting in front of one.
With his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers hosting the Jacksonville Jaguars in a first-round NFL playoff game, Furyk would have served himself better by being less ambitious with his scoring. Instead, there was television and the PGA TOUR Network on XM Radio to accommodate as well as a post-round press conference.
He didn't want to know the score. He was recording the game. A Steelers season ticket holder despite the fact that he lives in Ponte Vedra Beach -- near Jacksonville -- Furyk had a chance to attend the game. A representative from Coach Mike Tomlin's office called the PGA TOUR headquarters with an invitation.
But Furyk actually had better things to do, like competing in the season-opening PGA TOUR event. Now he has a chance to win this tournament of champions for the second time, having taken the 2001 title after a late burst, fueled by hitting 17 of 18 greens in regulation, lifted him into a tie for sixth place at 9-under 210.
"Yeah, it's flattering. I guess it's too bad I won last year," Furyk said with a wry smile. "I would have enjoyed that immensely. I'm obviously a big Steeler fan. I don't know that many people from the organization. I have met some of the Rooneys [the family that owns the Steelers] before. They have actually supported my charity event up in the Philadelphia area. It's a lot of fun giving away Steeler tickets right in the heart of Philadelphia, which has been interesting (laughter).
"Yeah, I'm obviously excited about watching the game, and living in Jacksonville makes it even that much more interesting."
Furyk tends to make things interesting whenever he qualifies for this event, which he has done 11 times, including every year but one since it moved to Maui in 1999. That was the year, incidentally, when Furyk bought property on the Plantation Course. He doesn't visit here near as much as he'd prefer, but he sure seems comfortable in an easy chair or on this hilly and harrowing test of nerves.
Six of his eight previous appearances have netted top-10 finishes and only four times has he failed to shoot par or better. Two of those occurred last year when he finished 18th with an aching wrist. But he won't make excuses.
"I did a bad job kind of preparing for it I'd say the last couple years," said the two-time defending Canadian Open champion who trails Canadian lefty Mike Weir by four shots. "Last year I played poorly. It was probably the only time I played badly here.
"I was too busy preparing my game for the season and thinking about my swing and different things, and this golf course is just a lot of different golf shots," Furyk explained. "You don't really particularly have to hit the ball great to score well here, you've just got to be able to hit the right shots. I just kind of revamped my thinking a little bit and said, 'I'm attacking this the wrong way.'
"I'm so worried about my game and swing and getting so caught up in everything else, I'm just not going out and playing the golf course the way I need to. I've done a lot better job the last two days and still haven't putted very well and shot 10 under the last two days."
The big question heading into Sunday was whether Furyk had saved any energy after watching the Steelers and Jaguars play a riveting, topsy-turvy football game in which the home team once trailed by as many as 18 points before rallying to take a brief lead, only to fall 31-29.
Actually, the big factors were how many men were in front of him (five) and how many shots by which he trailed (four).
"Usually I think any time you're within six shots you always have a chance to win a tournament," Furyk said "But ... if you're six back and there's four guys in front of you, it's a little easier than being six back and having 15 guys in front of you, if that makes sense, or sometimes there's 20 or 25 guys.
"I'll be close enough that I'll have an opportunity to win, but I'm going to have to fire another really good round."
He's in a good place to do just that. A football fan always appreciates the value of a home game.
Get the best deals on the best equipment all at the SHOP.PGATOUR.COM.
LIVE ONLINE VIDEO
PGATOUR.com is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network