Jim Furyk Wins Tour Championship and 10 Million Dollar Fed Ex Cup

Kathy Bissell

East Lake GC --  The joke on Jim Furyk was supposed to be that he had a $10 million  alarm clock because his cell phone alarm failed to ring for the Barclays pro-am, the first tournament in the $10 million Fed Ex Playoffs.  It was supposed to have ruined his chances to win the Fed Ex Cup.    

According to PGA Tour regulations, missing a start in the pro-am is an automatic disqualification.  The DQ bumped Furyk from third place in the rankings to eighth starting week two.  That was important because when the Tour Championships began, only the top five had a lock on the $10 million bonus if they won.  The numbers were just plain stacked against Furyk going in to the last event.    

But that didn’t stop him.

Now with an extra ten million in the bank, he can afford any number of alarm clocks, chimes, carillons, even a tabernacle wake-up choir, because he won both the Fed Ex Cup -- $10 million prize --  and  Tour Championship, his 16^th  PGA Tour title, for another million three.  

At the end of the day Sunday he said the impact “still had not sunk in.”  He is on a schedule that will take him to Wales by tomorrow for the Ryder Cup.

“It’s my second biggest win,” he said after a long explanation that included his first PGA Tour victory and his US Open title in 2003.  “We get judged by the number of tournaments we win and the number of majors we win.”  

He said that the Tour Championship victory was important because it was his first three-victory season.  The Fed Ex Cup was important because the Tour Championship and his other two 2010 victories were contained in it.  He noted that years from now, his name will be on the trophy with Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh, who he called the two most dominant players in his career.  

“I was very disappointed in ’08 and ’09 not to win,” he said. “To go out and turn that around and get three W’s this year was pretty special, and then to top it off here at the right time at the Tour Championship – this golf course – I love this golf course.”

He reminisced about losses at the Tour Championship to Hal Sutton and Adam Scott at East Lake and to David Duval in Houston.

“I’ve had my opportunities and haven’t got over the hump, so to win this on a golf course that I admire and respect is a lot of fun,” he added. “ When you have a three shot lead with three holes to go, you don’t want to give that up – you don’t want to be the guy that gave that up.”   

Though Furyk had a three shot lead with three holes to go, the lead did not last. Luke Donald holed out for birdie on the 17^th.  Furyk bogeyed both the 16^th and 17^th giving him only a one shot edge on the 18^th tee.  He was irritated at himself.

“Having to go there only make bogey to win is a good feeling,” he said thinking about the final hole.  “ Now, I’ve got to make par.” 

He said he remembered losing the Tour Championship to Hal Sutton hitting his 18^th tee shot long and left.  He was determined not be more than pin high.  The result was pin high, but bunkered.

“The rain made the bunkers really firm, and the ball was sitting up perfect on the sand. So you could nip it and spin the ball a lot,” he said about the overall conditions, but at the 18^th, the situation made the shot harder. “It wasn’t an overly hard shot, but obviously being able to knock it up there a couple feet for the win and the tournament, it was special.”

Furyk wanted to apologize to the owners of Joe and Leigh’s in Norton, MA, where he bought the putter that he used this week and at the BMW because he forgot to mention them in the closing ceremony.

“It is a Yes! putter, the same putter that Retief ( Goosen) won his US Opens with.  Not the same exact putter, but the same model,” Furyk explained.   “It was like 65 bucks, but they sold it to me for $39, I think.  I didn’t ask for that, trust me.” 

According to Furyk, it is similar to the Wilson 8802, a heel shafted putter made famous by Arnold Palmer, but that has been made since 1914. It was also Ben Crenshaw’s putter of choice.  It was supposedly used by Gene Sarazen in his heyday. 

“It was a used putter,” Furyk explained about the now prized item. “It’s got a nick on the back flange, it’s got a little ding in the top line. I never loft and lied it, which is rare for me, because I’ve always got my putters on a loft-lie machine at home.”   Whatever its imperfections, the putter proved to be just what Furyk needed to conclude the season on top.