Tag: Constellation Energy Furyk & Friends

Red-number day at Timuquana: Phil Mickelson, Matt Gogel share first-round lead at Constellation Furyk & Friends

Weather prevented fans from seeing the best of what the field had to offer Friday at the PGA Tour Champions Constellation Furyk & Friends.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A sudden early-fall Florida thunderstorm on Friday prevented fans from seeing the best of what a star-studded field had to offer in the first round of the PGA Tour Champions Constellation Furyk & Friends.

But there’s nearly perfect weather coming up for the final two rounds this weekend at the Timuquana Country Club, fans are welcome back and these guys are just getting started.

Phil Mickelson, playing in his fourth PGA Tour Champions event and nearly six months after winning the PGA Championship, birdied his last hole before a three-hour weather delay, birdied his first hole after returning, and made the best of two loose shots on the final two holes to post a 6-under-par 66 for a share of the lead with Matt Gogel, who birdied his last two holes playing in the final group of the day.

Mickelson saved par on a 12-foot putt at the par-3 17th hole after pulling his tee shot into a deep patch of rough on a sloping bank, then did well to make a bogey at the par-4 18th after nearly driving his tee shot out-of-bounds on the left.

Just inches from the white line marking OB, Mickelson punched out, wedged to within 15 feet and left a par-putt attempt on the left edge.

“I hit a few wayward shots,” said the first reigning major champion to ever play in a PGA Tour Champions event. “I just didn’t feel great but fought to finish the round off and try to regroup for [Saturday]. It’s a good start, though. I didn’t do any damage and made some good birdies on that front nine.”

Frank Lickliter II of nearby Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, fought back after two consecutive bogeys when he returned from the delay and played the rest of his round at 3 under with no more blemishes to record a 5-under 67, matching Cameron Beckman.

“I’ve probably played this place, 40, 50 times … Gator Bowl [Pro-Ams] … I’ve always liked it,” said Lickliter, a two-time PGA Tour winner who is still searching for his first Champions Tour top-10 after 18 starts. “I was playing good, then after the storm, came back and made two bogeys in a row, immediately. But I settled down and made birdies coming in … I’ve been making birdies again this year.”

The eight players tied at 4-under are a mix of major champions and journeymen, led by World Golf Hall of Fame member and Schwab Cup points leader Bernhard Langer, plus past major winners Darren Clarke and David Toms.

“No wind and the greens are fantastic to putt on, so if you get it going, you can hole a lot of putts,” said Robert Karlsson of Sweden, one of the players who posted a 68. “But they’ve done a good job with the pins, there’s a few tough ones in there, especially on the back nine. But it’s very enjoyable.”

The tournament was halted at 11:50 a.m. because of approaching weather and the severe storm and lingering lightning forced tournament officials to send fans home and close the gates.

However, the field was able to return at 3 p.m. and with the sun breaking out, virtually no wind rustling the pine needles of the historic course, the players performed with only themselves, family members and a few media watching.

They put on a show. Mickelson made three birdies after his return, Gogel birdied four of his last five holes, Beckman birdied three of four at one point and Kevin Sutherland ran off five birdies in a row to get a share of the lead before a closing double.

Nineteen players shot in the 60s and 34 broke par, and most of the birdies came after the rain softened the slick greens.

Despite posting his seventh score in the 60s in 10 career Champions Tour rounds (he won his first two starts last fall), Mickelson, predictably, was kicking himself for not squeezing more out of his day.

“Granted, the golf course is challenging here and there’s some spots you’ve got to be careful,” he said. “But for the most part it’s just really fun being out here and playing fewer holes and being able to play aggressive, kind of like the way I like to play. It’s been fun the few events I’ve played.”

The field averaged 72.185 in Timuquana’s first round in hosting a major professional tour.

“They [the maintenance staff] did a great job getting the course ready, and draining it so quickly so we could go back out and play,” Mickelson said.

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Former Timuquana head pro Bob Duval’s Jim Furyk and Friends prediction: ‘I think they’re going to tear it up’

Duval thinks the players will go low but “a lot depends on the greens.”

Bob Duval was the long-time Timuquana Country Club head professional and nurtured a future world No. 1-ranked golfer in the process on the classic Donald Ross design.

He also became a PGA Tour Champions winner and finished among the top-30 on the money list three years in a row to qualify for the Senior Tour Championship.

As a result, he’s got a keen interest in this week’s Constellation Furyk & Friends, which will be at Timuquana this week, marking the return of the PGA Tour Champions to the First Coast after a 19-year absence.

Duval last played full-time on the Champions Tour in 2001, with an elbow injury causing an early end to his second career. He had 134 career starts with 23 top-10s, had more than $2.25 in career earnings.

His victory in the 1999 Emerald Coast Classic in Pensacola came on the same day that his son David won the 1999 Players Championship, which still remains the only time a father and son have won on the same day in PGA Tour and Champions Tour events.

More: Lefty, Ernie highlight Furyk’s PGA Tour Champions event

And through his son, who learned to play the game at Timuquana and went on to win 13 PGA Tour titles, including the Players and the 2001 Open Championship, Duval is well-acquainted with numerous players who are in the field this week.

His verdict on how they will play the tree-lined course with numerous doglegs and the trademark Ross push-up greens: “I think they’re probably going to tear it up.”

“A lot depends on the greens,” Duval said. “If they’re firm and fast, they might have some problems, especially if they let the Bermuda rough grow a little. But the course is right there in front of you. There are a lot of doglegs but there are no blind shots and these guys are damn good.”

Duval said that while there are no Bryson DeChambeaus on the senior circuit, there are still some big boppers — Phil Mickelson, among them, who will be the first reigning major champion to compete in a Champions Tour event.

“They may be on the Champions Tour but they’re still hitting it 290, 300 yards,” said Duval, They’ve benefited from equipment and the balls just like everyone else.”

Duval said Mickelson should be an obvious contender, but with a caveat.

“If Phil drives it crooked, he will have a rough time,” Duval said.

He also likes the tournament host, Jim Furyk, and Jerry Kelly, for their accuracy off the tee.

“It’s an old-school course and I think the guys are really going to like it,” Duval said. “They always look forward to a course where the short game is important. There are too many modern courses where if you can’t hit it high and right, you can’t play it. It’s going to be fun to watch how they play it.”

Duval had a prediction on the final winning score, unless weather is a factor.

“Twelve or 13-under will be pretty good on Sunday,” he said.

Duval also likes one change they made for tournament week: flipping the sides. That makes the 435-yard par-4 ninth hole, with a large fairway bunker on the left (and out of-bounds beyond that) and trees on the right, a tougher finishing hole than No. 18, which is about 12 yards shorter, with a larger green.

“No. 18 is a flat-out birdie hole now, a driver and a wedge for those guys,” Duval said. “No. 9, you’ve got OB left if you pull it and big trees on the right. That green is a little wobbly, terrain-wise. No. 9 is going to be a great finishing hole.”

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Jim Furyk is at peace with joining PGA Tour Champions — almost — but still thinks he can compete at Napa

Jim Furyk is in the field at the PGA Tour’s season-opening Safeway Open at Silverado Resort & Spa.

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NAPA, Calif. – Jim Furyk and Phil Mickelson each celebrated their 50th birthday not long ago and wasted little time in becoming the 19th and 20th players to win in his PGA Tour Champions debut, respectively. But that doesn’t mean either of them is finished playing on the junior circuit just yet. Both are in the field this week at the PGA Tour’s season-opening Safeway Open at Silverado Resort & Spa, and whatever you do, don’t ask either of them if they’ve come to peace with making the inevitable transition to the senior circuit.

“Who said I came to peace with it?” Furyk said with an edge to his voice before breaking into a smile. “If you’d have asked me six months ago, I wasn’t sure. If you would have asked me literally five weeks ago, I wasn’t quite sure. I think I came to peace on it during a little reflection off of the season a little bit, where I’m at, where golf is at really in general, how we’re setting up golf courses on the PGA Tour, where equipment is at.”

Furyk is here this week because he recorded his best finish of an otherwise forgettable 2019-20 season at this tournament, finishing T-17, but he’s scheduled to play the next five Champions Tour events that follow.

“Scott McCarron probably put it best,” Furyk said. “He said the best thing I can tell you about the Champions Tour is it’s not that you can’t compete on the PGA Tour anymore, but how many times in a good year are you going to get in contention to win?’ He said, ‘You’re going to get in contention to win more often on the Champions Tour and you’ll still get just as nervous trying to win there as you do on the PGA Tour.”

Safeway Open: Odds and best bets

For Furyk, this much is clear: he doesn’t intend to split time between the two tours. His plan is to focus primarily on the Champions Tour – 80 to 90 percent, he said – and cherry-pick a few starts at some of his favorite stomping grounds such as the Valspar Championship, RBC Heritage and Travelers Championship, places where length isn’t the key ingredient to success. Perhaps the strongest measure of his commitment to PGA Tour Champions is forming his own event, the Constellation Furyk and Friends, which will be played in his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, October 4-10, 2021.

Furyk formed his foundation in 2010, and hosted his first Furyk & Friends a year later, raising about $500,000 per year the last few years, he said, during a two-day event in advance of the Players Championship.

“It was about golf and food and drinks and fun, and not always in that order. Golf was usually fourth on the list,” he said. “But realizing that eventually I’m going to transition and start playing the Champions Tour and it’s inevitable that I’m going to lose touch with the PGA Tour – it just happens – we were thinking how do we evolve?

“I started seeing, you know, Steve Stricker has the Am Fam (American Family Insurance Championship) and my good buddy Davis Love has the RSM in Sea Island, and I had a couple meetings with (PGA Tour Champions President) Miller Brady and dinner with Jay (Monahan) one night a couple of years ago and we started talking about the possibility of running a Champions Tour event. And I asked, ‘Is that possible with our foundation?’ ”

It turned out it was a good fit in the tour’s fall schedule. So, how did they settle on the course? Allow Furyk to tell the story: “Miller said, ‘Where are you thinking about having it, what course?’ And I said, ‘Well, I’ve got one in mind,’ and he goes, ‘I do, too.’ And I said, ‘All right, you go first,’ and he said, ‘Timuquana.’ And I go, ‘Great, we’re on the same page. That’s the place I would like to do it.’ ”

Furyk said the response from his fellow pros has been overwhelmingly positive and he’s working on his sales pitch to attract Mickelson and his other pals to join the field. In the meantime, Furyk’s success at the Ally Challenge has stoked his interest in making the transition to the Champions Tour.

Jim Furyk
Jim Furyk plays his shot from the first tee during the final round of the Ally Challenge presented by McLaren at Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club on August 2, 2020 in Grand Blanc, Michigan. Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images

“It felt like the first day of school all over again,” said Furyk, who enjoyed catching up with the likes of Steve Pate and Jeff Sluman in Flint, Michigan, as well as playing on a shorter course. “My first day in Flint it had rained the night before and a couple of guys said, ‘Man, the course is playing long this year, isn’t it?’ I turned to Fluff and said, ‘What’s the longest club I hit in out here?’ Fluff said, ‘7-iron.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I can handle this.’ Medinah (site of last year’s BMW Championship) played at 7,650 last year. I’ll take my chances.

“My 4-iron is sore from the last few years and my 9-iron and wedge, they miss me. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve been well-longer than average?” Furyk said. “That was kind of fun.”

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