2003 US Open Champ Jim Furyk Calls Himself a Plodder

Olympic Club, San Francisco, CA—At the end of last year, no one, Jim Furyk included, could have imagined him anywhere near the top of the leaderboard at the US Open.  He was just finishing one of his worst seasons on the PGA Tour, which had been preceded by one of his best. 

Now, he’s looking to be paired with Tiger Woods in the final pairing at the 2012 US Open. What happened in 2011 and what changes did he make to get himself back up?

“The things I was trying to work on in my game didn’t work out,” he said of the 2011 season.   “The things I tried to work on in my equipment didn’t really work out.  And of top of it, I putted bad.  I had one of my worst putting seasons of all time.”  In short 2011 was a year he’d like to forget, and it came immediately after he won the $10 million FedEx Cup.

By the end of 2011, he started to improve.  He said the first signs came at the Presidents Cup.

“That was a huge boost to go there and play well,” he admitted.

He thought about what he needed to do between the end of 2011 and the start of 2012. He changed his clubs to Callaway, and he went to a golf ball that spins more, which hurts him in the distance category, but improved his control.  He worked more on his fitness and his putting in the off season and put his new equipment to work at Chevron World Challenge.

“I got to the point where I got excited about laying again, and was anxious for the season to start, which is always a good thing.”  

Furyk’s one-under score got even better after he finished as the afternoon wave of golfers found the challenge of Olympic Club had not gotten any easier overnight.  

Michael Thompson, this year’s unknown to lead after round one, had a 41 on his first nine and dropped out of the lead.  He was followed by Beau Hossler, an amateur from Ranch Santa Fe, CA, who led for about two hours in the second round before he had to face the first six holes of the course on his second nine.  There he had three bogeys and a double and he too tumbled from the top.

Furyk said the key to his round was that he “plodded along.”

The set up of the golf course was so severe that he said it was all anyone could do.

“It’s get the ball in the fairway or in a playable spot as best you can, get the ball on the green or in a playable spot as best you can,” he explained, citing par golf as the goal.

“There’s times where I’m in the middle of the fairway with a 7-iron in my hand, and I know that 25, 30 feet’s the best I can do and that’s where I’m trying to put the ball.”     

Plodding golf.  It’s just the style of the US Open.   

Kathy Bissell is a Golf Writer for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand or from official interview materials from the USGA, PGA Tour or PGA of America.