Jim Furyk – Page 2 – Syndication Server

Jim Furyk, Mr. 58, on Bryson matching his magical figure, a playful dig at Phil and designing his first course

“Bryson has a much better leaping ability than Phil Mickelson and it is not even close. He got some actual air under his heels.”

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Jim Furyk, golf’s Mr. 58, has company after Bryson DeChambeau shot that magic number on Sunday at LIV Greenbrier in West Virginia on the Old White Course at the Greenbrier Resort.

Interestingly, it was almost seven years to the day that Furyk set the record for low 18-hole score on the PGA Tour during the final round of the Travelers Championship on Aug. 7, 2016. Furyk didn’t see the broadcast of DeChambeau’s dream round but when he heard how he drained a long putt for birdie at the last to shoot 58, Furyk found the video online.

“I will say that Bryson has a much better leaping ability than Phil Mickelson and it is not even close,” Furyk said of DeChambeau’s celebration and a shot at Mickelson’s famous leap when he won the 2004 Masters with a birdie at 18. “He got some actual air under his heels.”

Furyk hasn’t had a reason to jump for joy on the course of late. In fact, he hasn’t played since he withdrew from the American Family Insurance Championship in June after rounds of 80-76. Furyk, 53, has been sidelined with an ailing back and a hip issue to boot. It had been a disappointing year prior to the injury forcing him out — he has gone 10 starts without a top-10 finish and 19 of his last 21 rounds have been in the 70s. He’s hoping to return to action shortly – the third edition of Furyk & Friends as a Champions Tour stop in Jacksonville, Florida, is just around the corner in early October.

“I’m trying to work hard at it. It’s just taken some time and I don’t know. I mean, I’d love to go play Ally (Championship in Michigan). That’s the plan,” he said of the PGA Tour Champions event scheduled to begin in just over two weeks at Warwick Hills, a course where he’s won on both the PGA Tour and in his senior debut among his 17 PGA Tour wins and three on PGA Tour Champions. “I really haven’t had any back issues before. So this one’s a little new for me. I’m kind of learning about it.”

Furyk hasn’t had trouble filling the void of not playing golf. Among the activities keeping him busy is a golf course design project in Port St. Lucie, Florida, which marks his first foray into building a course from scratch as the name designer. Furyk has been involved in some consulting work before on course renovations, and he had a couple of projects back in the 2008-09 timeframe that never got off the ground after the real-estate market crashed in the U.S. Furyk is teaming with veteran architect Mike Beebe, who opened his own shop in 1998 after working for Mark McCumber’s design firm.

“It’s going to be fun to play, that any level of player can get around,” Furyk said. “You have to understand who you’re building the golf course for and, so, I’m hoping that when people see my name, they’re not thinking of a hard golf course or tournament golf course.”

Furyk still plans to focus on competing for the time being, but he’s also heavily invested in the success of the tournament bearing his name as well as his role as a U.S. Ryder Cup vice captain in September and Presidents Cup captain next year in Montreal. He does, however, hope to squeeze in some more golf course design work in the years to come.

“It’d be nice to have one project going at a time,” he said. “One project where I could go spend a lot of time on it will be fun.”

Jim Furyk named a 2023 Ryder Cup vice captain for U.S. squad

Furyk was named captain of the 2024 U.S. President’s Cup team on May 2.

Jim Furyk can officially block out his calendar for the next two Septembers.

Six days after being tabbed as captain for the U.S. team at the 2024 Presidents Cup, Furyk was named a vice captain for the 2023 Ryder Cup.

Furyk joins Steve Stricker and Davis Love III as vice captains on Zach Johnson’s squad headed to Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome, Italy. The PGA of America stated there will be more vice captains for 2023 named at a later date.

The biennial competition between the U.S. and Europe is set for Sept. 29 to Oct. 1.

“Jim and I have been friends for more than 20 years,” Johnson said in a statement released Monday. “He’s an amazing leader, mentor and someone I trust. He understands what it takes to compete at the highest level, and how to be a team player. I will be leaning on his experience a ton in the lead up to Marco Simone in September.”

Furyk was the U.S. team’s Ryder Cup captain in 2018 in France and a vice captain in 2016 at Hazeltine National Golf Club as well as in 2020 at Whistling Straits.

Prior to sliding into leadership roles, Furyk competed in nine straight Ryder Cups: 1997, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014.

“I’ve been involved in the Ryder Cup since 1997, and my passion for this event is unmatched,” Furyk said in the same statement. “Captain Zach Johnson shares that passion, and I can’t wait to get to Italy to help our U.S. Team work toward retaining the Ryder Cup at Marco Simone.”

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Jim Furyk named captain of 2024 United States Presidents Cup team

The first piece of the United States team for the 2024 Presidents Cup is set.

Jim Furyk, a 17-time PGA Tour winner, was announced Tuesday as captain of the U.S. squad at The Royal Montreal Golf Club in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Sept. 24-29, 2024. Furyk joins Canada’s Mike Weir, who was named captain of the International Team in Nov. 2022.

Furyk, who will make his debut as captain, has appeared in seven Presidents Cups (1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011) and holds a 20-10-3 all-time record. He competed in the event’s only previous visit to Royal Montreal in 2007, posting a 3-2 record, two of his wins coming with Tiger Woods as his partner. In his final start as a playing participant in 2011 at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club, he delivered a perfect 5-0-0 record – the fourth player in Presidents Cup history at the time to do so – that led to a 19-15 win over the International Team. Furyk qualified for the 2015 Presidents Cup in South Korea but was unable to compete due to a wrist injury.

Furyk also served as a Presidents Cup captain’s assistant twice, for Jay Haas in 2015 and Steve Stricker in 2017. In 2018, he guided the United States as captain at the Ryder Cup.

“Being selected by my peers to take on the role as captain of the U.S. Team for the 2024 Presidents Cup is truly an honor that I am humbled and excited to accept,” Furyk said in a release. “Over the span of several decades, this event has evolved tremendously into the global showcase it is today, and I am thrilled to help continue that momentum. So many legendary captains have come before me, so now to be here as the 2024 U.S. Team Captain is quite remarkable.”

Furyk becomes the 10^th U.S. Team captain in the event’s history, joining the likes of Davis Love III (2022), Tiger Woods (2019), Steve Stricker (2017), Jay Haas (2015), Fred Couples (2013, 2011, 2009), Jack Nicklaus (2007, 2005, 2003, 1998), Ken Venturi (2000), Arnold Palmer (1996) and Hale Irwin (1994).

Founded in 1873, The Royal Montreal Golf Club is the oldest club in North America. Dick Wilson designed the Blue Course, and it was updated by Rees Jones in 2004 and 2005. In addition to hosting the Presidents Cup, Royal Montreal also held the RBC Canadian Open on 10 occasions, most recently in 2014.

“Royal Montreal holds some unforgettable memories for me, as I know it does for so many other players and fans that witnessed the 2007 Presidents Cup,” Furyk said. “The golf course is a perfect setting for match play, and I know the passionate Canadian golf fans will create an amazing atmosphere onsite, delivering an extremely special iteration of the event.”

The U.S. defeated the Internationals 17.5-12.5 in the 2022 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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Jim Furyk will join Ernie Els and Darren Clarke as captains in the inaugural World Champions Cup in December

The event will be aired on ABC and ESPN. Peter Jacobsen, a seven-time PGA Tour winner and TV golf analyst will be the chairman.

Jim Furyk will be a match-play captain again, this time against the world.

The PGA Tour Champions announced this week that the inaugural World Champions Cup Dec. 7-10 at the Concession Golf Club in Bradenton will bring together 50 and over players from the U.S., Europe and an International team for three days of match play.

The European captain will be Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland and the International captain Ernie Els of South Africa. Furyk and Clarke are past Ryder Cup captains and Els captained the 2019 International Presidents Cup team. All three will be playing captains.

The event will be aired on ABC and ESPN. Peter Jacobsen, a seven-time PGA Tour winner and TV golf analyst will be the chairman.

“The World Champions Cup is a tremendous addition to the game of golf and the PGA Tour Champions schedule,” said Miller Brady, president of PGA Tour Champions, in a statement. “This competition will give fans a new and unique opportunity to see the game’s greatest stars compete against one another on a global stage. Ernie, Jim and Darren are worldwide ambassadors for golf, and it will be thrilling to watch them and their teammates compete for the chance to win the inaugural World Champions Cup.”

Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland during the first day of The Senior Open Presented by Rolex at Sunningdale Golf Club on July 22, 2021, in Sunningdale, England. (Photo by Stephen Pond/Getty Images)

The format will be doubles and singles lasting nine holes for each match, for a total of 24.

Each of the teams will have five additional players, all active PGA Tour Champions members. Automatic invitations for each team will be extended to the top two point-earners in the WCC’s career-based rankings, with two additional positions going to Chairman’s picks.

The final spots for Team USA, Team Europe and Team International will be play-in positions based on the year-end Charles Schwab Cup standings.

The Concession Golf Club was named for Jack Nicklaus’ famous gesture of conceding the final putt in the 1969 Ryder Cup to Tony Jacklin of England, resulting in the first tie in the event’s history. Nicklaus and Jacklin collaborated on the design of the course, which hosted the PGA Tour’s 2021 World Golf Championships-Workday Championship and the 2015 Men’s and Women’s NCAA Division I championships.

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Furyk, won 17 times on the PGA Tour and has played in seven Presidents Cups and nine Ryder Cups. He was the U.S. Ryder Cup captain in 2018.

“I am honored to lead Team USA onto the global stage that the World Champions Cup represents,” Furyk said in a statement. “It has been such a treat being part of Team USA at different stages throughout my career. I look forward to having the chance to captain Team USA and compete against Ernie and Darren, with whom I walked fairways for more than 20 years.”

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Padraig Harrington, Cristie Kerr among finalists for World Golf Hall of Fame 2024 induction class

Final selections for the 2024 World Golf Hall of Fame induction class will be announced the week of March 6.

The World Golf Hall of Fame announced its finalists for the 2024 Hall of Fame induction class Wednesday, and it’s loaded with star power.

Among the big names? Padraig Harrington, Jim Furyk. Cristie Kerr and Dottie Pepper.

Final selections for the 2024 World Golf Hall of Fame induction class will be announced the week of March 6. There are 12 finalists, and they include major champions, instructors and those who had a profound impact on the game, including the remaining seven of the 13 founders of the LPGA.

The finalists were selected by a nominating committee comprised of select Hall of Fame members, media, World Golf Foundation Board organizations and at-large selections. Additionally, all living Hall of Fame members were sent ballots and had the opportunity to vote.

“The nominating committee has selected finalists who represent the highest caliber of competitors and contributors,” said Greg McLaughlin, CEO of World Golf Hall of Fame. “Congratulations to all who have been nominated for this special recognition.”

These 12 finalists will be considered for admission into the World Golf Hall of Fame, Class of 2024 by a 20-member Selection Committee, comprised of Hall of Fame members, media representatives and leaders of the major golf organizations. They will be tasked with reviewing the merits and qualifications of each finalist and ultimately selecting the Class of 2024.

The 12 finalists are Padraig Harrington, Tom Weiskopf, Dottie Pepper, Jim Furyk, Cristie Kerr, Sandra Palmer, Peter Dawson, Butch Harmon, Johnny Farrell, Beverly Hanson, Jay Sigel, and the seven remaining co-founders of the LPGA: Alice Bauer, Bettye Danoff, Helen Detweiler, Helen Hicks, Opal Hill, Shirley Spork, Sally Sessions.

Harrington won 21 times professionally, 15 of those coming on the European tour. he also has three major victories and appeared on six Ryder Cup teams. He also captained the 2020 team.

Weiskopf won 16 times on the PGA Tour and captured the 1973 Open Championship.

Pepper won 17 times on the LPGA, including two majors. She was also tabbed 1992 Player of the Year and was a part of six Solheim Cup teams.

Palmer has 21 victories and two majors in her career, earning Player of the Year honors in 1975.

Dawson served as chief executive of the R&A for 16 years and played a pivotal role in golf returning to the Olympics.

Harmon is one of the best instructors in golf history. His pupils include Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Greg Norman.

Farrell has 22 victories on Tour and won the 1928 U.S. Open.

Furyk has captured 17 wins on the PGA Tour, including the 2003 U.S. Open. He was named Player of the Year in 2010. He’s the only golfer to have shot a 58 in competition.

Hanson won the U.S. Women’s Am in 1950 and went on to win three majors and 17 titles.

Kerr has 20 official victories and two majors and has been a part of nine Solheim Cup teams. She ranks third on the LPGA’s all-time money list.

Sigel was a stellar amateur, winning 27 total am events, including the 1982-83 U.S. Amateur, the 1979 British Am and three U.S. Mid-Ams.

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While the Players still isn’t a bona fide major, the area near TPC Sawgrass has been a hotbed for major champions

Here’s the roll call of players considered “local” to TPC Sawgrass and Ponte Vedra Beach who have won majors. It’s impressive.

Despite the best efforts of the PGA Tour and a younger demographic of players and media who are keeping an open mind, The Players Championship still can’t crack the public consciousness of joining The Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship in being considered a major championship.

The Players will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2024 so it’s had time. And the fact that it still isn’t widely recognized as a major has more to do with how entrenched the other four are.

Attitudes and history can change. When Bobby Jones was considered the best golf in the world in the 1920s and 1930s, he won 13 major championships. However, at the time, the U.S. Amateur and British Amateur were considered majors, along with the U.S. Open and British Open — largely because amateur golf was considered a higher level of competition since the professional game hadn’t yet blossomed and the Masters and the Augusta National Golf Club were still unrealized dreams by their founder — Jones.

Six of Jones’ majors were amateur events, five U.S, Opens and one British Open. And in 1930, when he won all four in one year, New York sportswriter George Trevor termed the feat, “the impregnable quadrilateral.”

Respect for Jones was so universal that gradually the Masters came to be thought of as a major, and when professionals such as Sam Snead, Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson got into the prime of their careers, the PGA Championship also became more elevated.

Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus solidify the majors

The final piece of the puzzle in why the current four are accepted as majors was Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, whose powerful style of golf and charisma captured fans’ imagination. They especially cemented the Masters as perhaps the top dog of the grand slam events when they combined to win 10 times at Augusta.

Fast forward to the Tiger Woods Era. He had a poster of Jack Nicklaus on his wall at home as a young boy, with a list of Nicklaus’ 18 major championships. Woods dreamed of getting to that goal and he has 15, winning his last at the 2019 Masters — his fifth green jacket.

Woods followed the same script that Nicklaus and Palmer did: save his best for the majors, which only further served to keep their status at the top of the worldwide tournament food chain intact.

Majors history goes back nearly 160 years

Obviously, the majors have a rich history. The British Open is the oldest golf tournament in the world, having started in 1863. The U.S. Open launched in 1895, the PGA in 1916 and the Masters in 1934.

But the history of the world’s two main amateur events can’t be left in a dusty book. The U.S. Amateur began the same year as the U.S. Open and the British Amateur in 1885. Let’s just call them the amateur majors, which is both historically accurate and relevant to the modern game.

The history of those events also involves First Coast and South Georgia natives and those who have lived in the areas on a long-term basis. Six of those men have combined to win the four professional majors nine times. Six more have combined to win the amateur majors 11 times.

Here’s the roll call of players considered “local” to TPC Sawgrass and Ponte Vedra Beach who have won those 20 majors, listed on a chronological basis of when they won their first or only major:

Steve Stricker dominates Furyk & Friends for 11th PGA Tour Champions win, fourth this season

Steve Stricker earned his fourth win on the PGA Tour Champions this season, 11th overall.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — First there was a sore throat and a cough.

Then a fever as high as 103 degrees.

Next came Pericarditis, irregular heartbeat, jaundice, high white and red cell blood counts, high liver function tests, an inability to eat solid food and the loss of nearly 30 pounds from an already slim build.

Steve Stricker had a long list of ailments beginning last fall after he led the U.S. to a Ryder Cup victory in his home state of Wisconsin. It lasted into the early spring and doctors couldn’t pinpoint anything.

The only thing they knew was that it wasn’t COVID-19, it wasn’t cancer and it wasn’t the Crohn’s Disease and liver transplant that contributed to the death of his older brother Scott in 2014.

But after six months away from golf, a variety of antibiotics and more rest than he wanted, Stricker was able to return to play on the PGA Tour Champions in May.

Call it a new lease on life. Call it relief that he got his health back. But one thing’s for certain: Since returning, Stricker has played some of the best golf of his career this season.

Attacking the par-5s and making only one bad swing on the final hole when it didn’t matter, Stricker broke a five-way tie for the most victories on the Champions Tour by winning his fourth title this season, the Constellation Furyk & Friends on Sunday, by two shots over Harrison Frazar and three over tournament host Jim Furyk at the Timuquana Country Club.

Stricker slams door on the field

Stricker (69) had a streak of 46 bogey-free holes in a row going back to the front nine of Friday’s first round and finished at 14-under 202. Frazar (65), a Monday qualifier, birdied four of his first five holes and wound up getting as close as anyone to Stricker, who began the day with a three-shot lead over Furyk (69) and Mike Weir (75).

Steve Stricker celebrates with the trophy after winning the 2022 Constellation Furyk & Friends at Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo: Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)

“I felt like if I could go around here and not make a bogey today and take care of the par-5s, birdie two or three of them, shoot 3-under par or 4-under par, it was going to take a really special round [to catch him],” he said, standing by his wife of nearly 30 years, Nikki, who has been his caddie this season. “I didn’t make a mistake really until the last shot out of the fairway and at that point I figured it was over. It was a good day … a tough day when you have a three-shot lead, but I did all the things I was supposed to do.”

Stricker has played lights-out since capturing the Regions Tradition on May 15, his fourth Champions tour major. He’s finished among the top-three in seven of 10 starts, and in the last six weeks, he’s won three times and finished third in four starts.

Stricker has been in the 60s in his last 11 rounds and has a scoring average of 67.0. The $300,000 first-place check vaulted him to third on the money list with $2,473,725.

“We never take any of these for granted,” Nikki Stricker said of her husband’s 35 worldwide victories. “It was just about staying patient and kind of doing his thing.”

Stricker ready for bow season

Here’s the scary part: Stricker said he’s only beginning to feel at full strength.

“I think the last month or so, I feel like I’m showing better signs,” he said. “I still feel like it’s not all quite there. My body, the way it feels isn’t quite the same, strength-wise. I’ve played a lot of golf lately, I’ve lost some weight again lately, so I don’t know if I just need to get going again, put some weight back on, start working out harder again and try to get back up there 10 more pounds.”

And at any rate, it’s getting close to Stricker’s favorite time of year: hunting season, where he loses himself deep in the Wisconsin woods to use a bow to hunt whitetail deer.

“I’m 55 years old, I’ve had a nice career, I’ve been fortunate enough to play a long time, but I still feel like that’s my passion [hunting], that’s what I love to do,” he said. “So I wait for this time period all year long. It’s really only about a month of good hunting and then it goes away, so it’s like I hate to miss that month. Unfortunately, the Schwab Cup playoffs are right in that month time frame. We’ll see. We’ll see what happens at home and I’ll go from there.”

Furyk, who tied for fourth and third in the first two years of his tournament, said it was going to take an extraordinary round to catch Stricker on yet another day of Chamber of Commerce weather.

“Steve’s not going to give the tournament away and he’s not going to back up,” Furyk said. “Someone’s going to have to go chase him.”

Frazar makes a run

Frazar nearly did. After making the field by winning a Monday qualifier with a 65 at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley, the former University of Texas player posted his first career top-10 on the Champions Tour.

His early run was fueled by precise iron shots that set up four birdie putts of 8 feet or less. He posted three more birdies on the back nine but missed two long birdie attempts on his last two holes.

Frazar is still content. With a top-10, he’s automatically in the field for next week’s SAS Championship in Raleigh, North Carolina, the final regular-season event, and his $176,000 second-place check gave him $333,527 and at 52nd place, he’s inside the top-72 that will qualify for the Schwab Cup playoffs.

He’s had his own health issues, such as back injuries, and didn’t play much golf for about five years until becoming eligible for the PGA Tour Champions.

“I’ve felt very good about my game for about the last five or six week,” said Frazar, who is a fellow member with world No. 1-ranked Scottie Scheffler at the Royal Oaks Country Club in Dallas. “I’m finally getting to the point where I’m saving strokes instead of throwing them away.”

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

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With the future of the PGA Tour’s fall schedule unknown, what happens to Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas?

Las Vegas has been a staple of the PGA Tour since 1983.

LAS VEGAS — It has had ten different names. It has been played on 12 different golf courses. It has been held in March, May and October. But whatever it has been called and wherever it has been played, a stop in Las Vegas has been a staple on the PGA Tour for 39 years.

So what does the future hold for the Shriners Children’s Open?

The Tour has had a wrap-around schedule, starting in September and ending in August, for eight years.

But what’s old is new again, so beginning in 2024, the Tour will return to its calendar-year schedule format, with the season starting in January like it used to do.

That means 2023, which will also mark the 40th anniversary of the first regular PGA Tour stop in Las Vegas, could very well be the end of the fall series as fans know it now.

2022 Shriners Children's Open — A view of the 16th green and 17th tee box at TPC Summerlin for the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas. (Photo: Todd Kelly/Golfweek)

Patrick Lindsey, in his eighth year as tournament director of the Shriners Children’s Open, is optimistic about the future.

“Ultimately, we have really two great things that are going on for us. One we have, we have a great title sponsor. The mission of the charity is awesome,” he said. “We also live in this incredible market in this destination of Las Vegas. So talking with players, they’re like, ‘Listen, we love Las Vegas, we love Shriners, we’d love just being there. We are always going to kind of schedule your event and be here and be a part of it’, so that made me feel a little bit better about the direction.”

Count Max Homa among them.

“I’m not sure that the future of all these, I don’t know what changes when we don’t have a wraparound season,” he said. “I would imagine that the events would still do all right because, like I said, I think a decent amount of us are still very excited about the events that we would play.”

A year ago, Shriners Hospitals for Children signed a five-year extension as title sponsor through 2026. As for the tournament itself, there are no plans to go anywhere. Lindsey says they like their spot in the fall.

“In this climate that we’re in, it’s built to have this event in the fall, because we don’t overseed and the growing process and winter in the spring being very light, they would have to, my opinion, change some agronomy standards of this golf course,” said Lindsey. “So really, this tournament works out great being in the fall, because we have the whole summer growing season to get the course exactly how we want it for the PGA Tour event, the first week of October.”

As the LIV Golf Series eyes expansion, there is some internet chatter about Greg Norman and Co. perhaps trying to pick off one of the PGA Tour’s fall events, maybe due to the notion that a fall Tour event may not want to risk facing diminished status or a weaker field.

But since the Shriners is staged on a TPC course, “it won’t happen here,” Lindsey said, adding that no one from LIV Golf has contacted him or anyone else at his tournament, nor would he take the call even if they did.

Two recent past champs of the Shriners—Bryson DeChambeau and Kevin Na—won’t ever be back, due to their defections to LIV, and Lindsey did sound a bit bummed about that.

“I respect the guys that left, disappointed that they left,” he said. “I have no problem with that. I wish they were here, you know, I wish they hadn’t moved but you know, still appreciate those guys and what they have done for Shriners.”

The big picture for the Vegas stop is keeping the event in a burgeoning sports market.

“This is a great sports town,” said Chesson Hadley. “It’s becoming more and more of a phenomenal sports town. I mean, the next 10 years—they’ve got hockey and football—there’s going to be basketball and baseball here.”

Jim Furyk, who won three of his 17 PGA Tour titles in Las Vegas, has fond memories.

“When I started playing, Las Vegas was one of four bigger purses,” he said. “The first time I won in 1995, the purse was $1.5 million and lot of the purses at that time were $1 million. It’s Las Vegas, right? It had a lot of buzz.

“I know it’s in the fall now. … three of my first four victories came there so I always have a soft spot for it. I hope to see it on the schedule in the future. I really do.”

Garry Smits from the Florida Times-Union contributed to this article.

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Hosting duties aside, Jim Furyk found the time to grab a share of the lead in Constellation Furyk & Friends

Who’s leading after the first round of the Constellation Furyk & Friends?

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Constellation Furyk & Friends host Jim Furyk isn’t getting too distracted by his off-course duties this week.

He’ll never be too busy to focus on trying to win his own event.

Furyk birdied three of his last four holes on the front nine of the Timuquana Country Club on Friday and then had a clean card with two birdies on the back to finish with a 5-under 67 and a share of the lead with the last PGA Tour Champions winner, Steve Flesch, and Rob Labritz.

“I didn’t think much about it today,” Furyk said of being the tournament host. “I played well here last year [tying for fourth] and I was happy with the way I scored and played and got the ball in the hole. When I’m off the course I’m thinking about our celebrities finishing, the party for the caddies, a cocktail party downtown for Constellation … I think it’s kind of healthy. It gets my mind off golf. Then when I do step in the ropes, I’m locked in and try to flip the switch.”

Furyk hit only half the 14 fairways and missed five green but got up-and-down four times and needed only 25 putts.

His best escape was when he recovered from a drive at No. 16 that went low and left, between two trees and in a sandy lie. He considered laying up but decided on a wedge shot between a gap in the trees, with the ball landing a foot from the hole.

“I hit some bad drives, got some good breaks,” he said.

Flesch won the Pure Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach two weeks ago for his second Champions Tour title of the season and his third overall. He got off to a quick start with birdies on two of his first three holes and birdied the last.

He’s also the low returning left-hander in the field: 2021 champion Phil Mickelson isn’t playing because of his suspension from the Tour. Flesch was solo third last year and has played his first four rounds at Timuquana at 15-under.

Flesch missed only three greens on Friday and said the course is playing tougher than last season after a renovation firmed up the greens and dry weather since Ian passed the area last week has made them even more difficult.

“Greens are tough to get the ball close this year,” he said. “Seems like the runoffs are a little more severe. It kind of suits my conservative style of play. I’ve never been a guy who kind of aims at a lot of flags. Drove it well, made some great putts and it added up to a great score.”

Labritz, who was a club pro from Pound Ridge, New York, was the Champions Tour national qualifying tournament medalist and has had a solid season, entering the week 38th on the Schwab Cup points race.

He tied for fourth in the U.S. Senior Open and has seven top-25 finishes.

Labritz said he’s played enough Donald Ross courses in the Northeast to feel comfortable at Timuquana.

“We have a lot of those,” he said of course designed by the World Golf Hall of Fame architect from Scotland. “It’s more middle of the green sort of thing, because all of the greens are crowned but if you’re patient out there and you get yourself in the fairways you can attack some of these pins with wedges.”

The trio at the top shouldn’t feel comfortable in Saturday’s second round.

Mike Weir, the 2003 Masters champion, and Ken Tanigawa are tied at 4-under and a crowd of eight players at 3-under includes two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal, three-time major champion Padraig Harrington, last year’s runner-up at Timuquana, Miguel Angel Jimenez, and two-time U.S. Open champion and 1995 Players champion Lee Janzen.

John Daly got into contention with three birdies in a row on the front but had four bogeys among his last 11 holes and finished with a 1-under 71. Paul Stankowski led at 4-under through 12 holes but played his last four holes 4-over, with a double-bogey at the par-4 16th.

Vijay Singh of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, eagled the par-5 sixth hole and shot 70. Jacksonville native David Duval, playing at the course when he learned the game, bogeyed two of his first four holes and was steady after that, logging a 1-over 73.

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

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Shriners Children’s Open alternate Tano Goya missed breakfast, teed off with the wrong shoes, opens with a 68 in Las Vegas

Argentina’s Tano Goya made his first PGA Tour start in eight years.

LAS VEGAS — Withdrawals happen just about every week on the PGA Tour. Sometimes a golfer will pull out on a Tuesday, giving possible alternates time to prepare.

Other times, for a variety of reasons, a WD may come the morning of the first round. Sometimes they happen just minutes before a tee time. This can make life a little more interesting for those on the precipice of a Tour start.

Take Argentina’s Tano Goya. When he played in the Fortinet Championship three weeks ago, it was his first PGA Tour start in eight years. This week, he was the first alternate in Vegas, and, well, let’s let him tell the rest of the story.

“It was weird because I had the feeling that I was going to get in somehow. Obviously yesterday I heard that Matt Kuchar was struggling with his knee, so I was like maybe I have a chance. He was playing in the afternoon, but I have to be here early.

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“I get here at like 5:30 in the morning. I didn’t hear anything, so I was like, okay, I’m going to take my time. I went to the track to have a warmup, so I was taking my time there.

“All of a sudden, my caddie called me saying like Peter Malnati was like ten minutes ago and couldn’t see him. I said, I saw him in the gym. I saw him in the track. So I was like he’s here. I’m not sure, maybe that’s wrong information or something.”

“Then all of a sudden, I was like ‘Just in case, I’m going to get ready’. So I put my clothes on, and they called me saying, you’re up in two minutes. So I didn’t have time to have breakfast, didn’t have time to put my shoes on. I hit the first tee shot with my trainers. It was funny, no practice at all or anything.”

Goya got the call at 7 a.m. local time, two minutes before he was needed on the tee box alongside Austin Cook and Zac Blair.

Goya started on the 10th hole and says he was finally able to get changed into his golf shoes on the 10th fairway. He then birdied Nos. 13, 16 and 17 to make the turn in 3 under. He bogeyed the second and birdied the ninth, his last hole of the day, to sign for a 68.

“I was confident that I was going to get in. So I did a great preparation Tuesday and Wednesday, and I felt good about my game. So I hit it pretty good today. Only one mistake that I hit it into the desert on, I think No. 2 or 3. Other than that, I played pretty consistent, pretty solid.”

A second alternate, Kevin Roy, also got in the field when Kuchar ultimately withdrew.

Good thing Goya set that alarm clock so early.

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