For veteran Furyk, it's March Madness, and he's elated

PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Jim Furyk took Tuesday off, mainly just to breathe and assess what lies ahead of him. After all, what was shaping up to be a relatively quiet month for him has transformed into a golf version of full-on March Madness.

Amazing what doors that quality play can wedge open. For Furyk, who began this season playing out of the No. 126-150 category (he was 141st) from the 2017-18 FedExCup standings list, a tie for ninth at the Honda Classic earned him a start near home in Ponte Vedra Beach at THE PLAYERS Championship last week, and now the dominoes are tumbling. At PLAYERS, Furyk responded with one of his best runs in years, his birdie-par-birdie finish and 5-under 67 eventually leaving him just one shot shy of Rory McIlroy’s winning score, preventing Furyk from collecting his 18th PGA TOUR triumph.

So there was no trophy, but finishing second against the strongest field in golf had its perks. Furyk rose47 spots in the FedExCup standings, to 24th. So now he is in next week’s World Golf Championships-Dell Match Play, another tournament he thought he’d be watching this season. Good play this week at Valspar or next week at Match Play could propel him into the Masters, a tournament he has missed two of the last three seasons. So much for this schedule stretch being the quietest of the season for him.

“Now, with the additions of the PLAYERS and the addition of Match Play, I’ve kind of got more events than I know what to do with,” Furyk said Wednesday upon his arrival at Innisbrook’s Copperhead Course, which he ranks among his five favorites on the PGA TOUR. “So it’s a great problem to have and I hope that it continues, because it would mean I could possibly get into Augusta or I could possibly get in the U.S. Open, or get in more events."

“I’m kind of on a wait-and-see-what-happens. And again, that’s my fault. It used to be if I was playing really well and I was top 10 in the world and I could kind of make my schedule at the start of the year and stick to it, and it was good. But you earn that by playing well. So I’m in this situation because I didn’t play as well as I wanted.”

This is the first season that Furyk has felt fully healthy since 2015, having had wrist surgery in 2016 and been slowed by a bad shoulder last season. With his wife, Tabitha, and teen-age children watching near the 18th green at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on Sunday, Furyk sank a 3-foot birdie putt and soon had tears welled in his eyes, filled with the pride that he’d hit some great shots when it counted most.

The fierce competitor burning inside Furyk still was ticked off that he hadn’t won, something the soon-to-be 49-year-old hasn’t done since 2015. But drawing inspiration from watching players such as Raymond Floyd and pal Davis Love III win after 50, he said he’ll keep his head down and continue to play hard, not getting caught up in what he needs to do to take the next step. That method worked for him at Honda, where a solid weekend opened the door to better opportunities, and he is wise to keep to the plan.

That’s why, after participating in a corporate outing on Monday, he took Tuesday to himself and didn’t make the drive to Palm Harbor until Wednesday morning. He wants to stay mentally fresh. Furyk has accomplished a great deal on TOUR – 17 victories and more than $70 million in earnings, and the Match Play will mark his 600th start – but he says there is more work to be done.

“I want to get back in the same mind frame that I was in at Pebble Beach, at L.A., at Honda, at THE PLAYERS, where I kind of felt like there was a world of opportunity for me and really wasn’t worried about the consequences,” Furyk said. “And if I can keep doing that, I think I can keep playing well.”