Tag: Constellation Furyk and Friends

As Hurricane Ian bears down on Florida, Jim Furyk’s PGA Tour Champions event is preparing for any scenario

“Right now we’re going around the course and taking up anything that’s loose.”

JACKSONVILLE, Florida — They’re battening down and getting prepared at the Timuquana Country Club to keep next week’s Constellation Furyk & Friends PGA Tour Champions in play.

While none of the tournament structures such as hospitality areas and bleachers are being taken down, other precautions are being made for the arrival and in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, which is expected to bring tropical-force winds to the First Coast by Thursday morning.

Tournament week is scheduled to begin on Oct. 3 with the Florida Blue Pro-Am, followed by the Jake Owen concert on Oct. 4 at Daily’s Place, two more pro-ams on Oct. 5-6 and the tournament Oct. 7-9.

The tournament field is scheduled to include World Golf Hall of Fame members Ernie Els, Davis Love III, Vijay Singh, Bernhard Langer and Retief Goosen, as well as tournament host Jim Furyk, David Duval and John Daly.

More: Josh Scobee, Jerome Bettis added to Furyk & Friends
More: No Phil but field at Timuquana still loaded with Hall of Famers

“We are doing everything we can to prepare and to clean up after the storm clears out,” said tournament director Adam Renfroe on Tuesday. “We’re confident we have a good plan and we have a full-on team effort going on right now.”

Renfroe said the metal frameworks for the hospitality and food service tents are not being taken down, but the tent flaps are being rolled up and secured to allow wind to get through. He said the manufacturers of the structures have been consulted and they said the frames will be within the tolerances of the current forecast for duration and velocity of the wind.

“We expect the tents to be in good shape, based on the current forecast,” Renfroe said. “Right now we’re going around the course and taking up anything that’s loose.”

Timuquana recently finished a nine-month renovation project that improved, among other things, the irrigation and drainage – a crucial component given the forecast of rain up to 10 inches or more.

Renfroe said two golf-course construction companies, Maccurach Golf and Vallencourt Construction, have already been scheduled to be on-site Saturday to assist the Timuquana Country Club maintenance staff with the cleanup or downed trees and limbs.

Jim Furyk, Mike "Fluff" Cowan
Tournament host Jim Furyk talks with caddie Mike “Fluff” Cowan ahead of the 2021 Constellation Furyk & Friends at the Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, Florida. Photo by Bob Self/Florida Times-Union

One of Timuquana’s characteristics is its tall, stately pine trees and oaks but each tropical storm that has come through the First Coast usually topples a few of them.

There is only one function related to the tournament that has been scrubbed, a pre-qualifier for the tournament scheduled for Friday at the Jacksonville Beach Golf Club. It will not be rescheduled. A qualifier for the main draw of the tournament is scheduled for Monday at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley.

The First Coast lost one golf tournament in recent years to tropical weather, the 2016 Korn Ferry Tour Championship at the Atlantic Beach Country Club. It was canceled two days before the first round because of Hurricane Matthew.

The Furyk & Friends was also affected by the weather last year when a severe thunderstorm forced the suspension of the first round. It was completed later that day, with no fans on the course, but the weather was flawless on the weekend.

Information on the tournament can be found at furykandfriends.com.

Contact Garry Smits at gsmits@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @GSmitter

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Phil Mickelson: ‘On the regular tour, there’s so many new, young, fresh players, I don’t know who two-thirds of them are’

While Lefty is enjoying the PGA Tour Champions, maybe he’s less familiar with some of the golfers on the PGA Tour.

Phil Mickelson certainly sounds like he’s enjoying the PGA Tour Champions – winning three of the four events he has entered helps that. His latest victory came Sunday in Jacksonville, Florida, in the Constellation Furyk and Friends.

But it’s not just about the winning. The 51-year-old prefers the aggressive nature he can display on the senior circuit, and he said he’s having a good time playing with guys he knows better while he’s less familiar with the up-and-coming golfers on the PGA Tour.

“I don’t feel like there are tournaments on the regular tour that are really exciting me to get out and play, so it’s fun for me to get out here and work on a few things that I’m trying to improve on and play with guys that I know. I know all these guys here,” he said Sunday after winning at Timuquana Country Club .

A four-hour delay during Friday’s first round at Timuquana sent everyone inside.

“With that rain delay, I go into the locker room and everybody in there I know, whereas on the regular tour there’s so many new, young, fresh players, I don’t know who two-thirds of them are.”

Jim Furyk became the second golfer to win his first two times out on the senior circuit last year. It didn’t take long for Mickelson to become the third. Now he has three wins in four outings and more than $750,000 in earnings.

“It’s a good start. I’m having fun, I’m having fun playing here. I’m enjoying being around the guys, I’m enjoying the golf courses, how I can be a little bit more aggressive and like when I made a mistake on No. 5, I can still recover. You do that on the regular tour, you just get eaten alive. You just can’t make those mistakes there and have a chance to compete and contend and win. So I like how you don’t have to be perfect and I can get away with a shot or two here or there, so it makes it fun to play and play aggressive.”

Make no mistake: Mickelson is not declaring that he won’t play the PGA Tour from now on. After all, he is the reigning PGA Championship winner.

“I think if I can play well in tournaments on the regular tour and compete and maybe win a time or two like at the PGA and have some credibility when I come out here, I think that would be a good thing because it shows how high a level of performance goes on out here on the Champions Tour,” he said. “If I can continue to stay up in the world rankings and compete in some regular Tour events, when I do come out here, I hope to help out.”

Mickelson’s next PGA Tour Champions event will be Oct. 22-24 at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic in Richmond, Virginia, when the PGA Tour will be at the Zozo Championship in Japan. He then most likely will play the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship on Nov. 11-14 in Phoenix, the same week as the PGA Tour’s Houston Open, which Mickelson chose to play in 2020 because it was the week before the pandemic-delayed Masters.

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