Jim Furyk said last week's ugly finish hurt even worse than his U.S. Open loss earlier this summer. (Getty Images)
If this week wasn’t a major championship, Jim Furyk would be home by the pool. Or fishing. Or someplace where golf doesn’t remind him of another tournament fumbled away down the stretch.
“I’d rather have the week off,” Furyk said after an even-par 72 left him six shots off the PGA Championship lead. “To come back on the golf course, it’s easier putting it behind you with a week off.”
The Ponte Vedra Beach pro took a one-shot lead to the 18th tee at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, but chopped up the hole with a closing double bogey that handed the trophy to Keegan Bradley. A poor approach shot and flubbed chip from Firestone CC’s greenside rough cost him dearly.
The shock, Furyk said, still hadn’t completely worn off by early Monday.
“You wake up, and think, `What in the world happened? That isn’t possible,’” he said.
It marked the third time in 2012 that Furyk had taken a piece of the lead into the final round and come away empty-handed.
He shared the lead after three rounds of the Transitions Championship, but a closing 71 put him in a four-way playoff eventually won by Luke Donald. Then he kept a piece of the lead all the way to the U.S. Open’s 70th hole, but bogeyed two of his final three holes as Webb Simpson swooped in.
Of the three, though, Furyk said the newest has been the toughest to shake. Though he’s thankful for all the words of encouragement from friends and family, he’s still hurting.
“It’s a Catch-22,” he said. “It’s nice to have people genuinely supportive. The only negative is you have to keep re-hashing it.”
Though many players might prefer to erase bad memories on the course by replacing them with something more recent, Furyk would rather have had the chance to get away.
“I can go fishing; I can swimming with the kids,” he suggested.
Instead, he’ll wrestle a few more days with a Kiawah Island layout that he doesn’t think suits his game. At No.11 on the U.S. Ryder Cup points list, he has ground to make up to earn one of the eight automatic roster spots that lock in after this week.
