THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY SOUTHERN COMPANY AND MERCEDES-BENZ

October 31, 1998

Jim Furyk

JIM FURYK: Thank you.

JIM FURYK: Well, just kind of hung in there again today. Yesterday I said I was boring, I made no bogeys and only a couple birdies. Today I kind of went the flipside, made six birdies and five bogeys. I made it a little more exciting out there. Just kind of hung in there on the back, kind of things weren't really going my way, made a good long birdie putt on I guess 13, and birdied 18 to kind of end up having a pretty good day at 1-under 69 and keep myself in the tournament.

JIM FURYK: Yeah. I think when you play a course as tough as this one, I think I've had -- I had five bogeys today, but I've had six bogeys in three rounds. You know, if you play a golf course this tough, you're going to make some bogeys. You just have to hang in there and be patient, hopefully take your shot at a couple birdies when they come along and make some just to hang in there. That's what I've been doing. Today I made a whole bunch of birdies. I made more birdies today but also more bogeys. I just want to add them up in the end. Shooting in the 60s, shooting 69 again, it's a good score. I'm not going to worry about it too much.

JIM FURYK: I didn't do too much poorly actually. Hit a good shot, drove it in the fairway on 10. Hit a pretty good shot in. I think it hit the bank of the bunker and kicked back. I'm sure a lot of balls were going long to that green today. I hit a pretty decent bunker shot, decent putt, didn't go in. 3-putted 11 after a pretty decent shot. Really the only bad shot I hit on those three holes was the drive on 12. I blocked it pretty badly out into the rough, made bogey there. All of a sudden I'm two back where I was just leading. I just had to kind of pump myself up a little bit and really look back and say, I haven't done that much wrong, I just made three bogeys, and realize that's going to happen, this golf course is difficult, and try not to get impatient or get upset with myself and force any more bogeys. It was nice to come back on the next hole. I made about a 30-footer for birdie on 13. It was nice to do that. But I just wanted to go play a solid hole and get the ball in playoff the tee, knock it on the green and give myself a putt at it instead of keep scrambling.

JIM FURYK: That should be right.

JIM FURYK: I just want to go out and be patient. I could shoot even par, win the golf tournament tomorrow. I could shoot even par and lose by five. You just have to go hang in there, try to do the best you can on every hole. Hopefully, coming down the stretch, you have a chance to win the golf tournament. I just want to keep playing the same way. I've been playing very patiently. I haven't forced many shots. I've kept the ball on the correct side of the pin most times. I just want to keep doing that, keep playing solid. You know, I'm not going to go out there with a score in mind or really trying to fire a low number; I just want to play the best I can.

JIM FURYK: I don't know. I think early on, he kind of got up-and-down a little bit right off the bat, scrambled a little bit. But other than that, he played very solidly on the backside. I don't know, I guess this golf course is tough. I feel fortunate to be where I am (laughter). You know, he's obviously got to like the position he's in, leading the tournament. It's a difficult golf course. I think there's more than just two or three guys in the tournament. I want to go out there and fire a good number tomorrow.

JIM FURYK: I mean, I guess it's kind of a bad break. I get it on the downslope. Kind of a zoysia rough, not even Bermuda. Really kind of -- the rough was deep there. My ball was actually sitting up kind of high in a weird lie where I could easily go underneath the ball. I also noticed there was some sort of acorn or some sort of nut in behind the ball also, so it was hard to get the club on it solidly. Because the ball was sitting up high, sometimes I like to take my regular sand wedge instead of my 60, it's easier to go underneath the ball with my 60. So I kind of flipped back and forth between the clubs. I decide to go with the 60 degree because I felt like if I just hit my regular sand wedge out, it might run the whole way across the green anyway, I leave myself a difficult shot. Really kind of got in a position where I would have liked to just made 5 and got out there. That's what I really was trying to do. I made a pretty good, hard swing at that 60-degree shot, and still went dead underneath the ball and didn't catch much of it. Ended up hitting not such a great fourth shot, pitch. I thought I just melted that putt right in the center of the hole. Kind of lipped out on me. You know, with a perfect drive and a good yardage into that green, to come out of there with six, it's real disappointing. That's part of it. I got a good kick on 18, too, where I hit the tee shot slightly left. Wasn't a bad shot, but it was a marginal shot. Could have easily kicked in the bunker. Hits over the bunker, rolls down there eight feet, made it for birdie. Hopefully they'll even out by the end of the week.

JIM FURYK: I think it's nice, I think it's real nice. You know, I said yesterday, it's kind of nice to come into this golf tournament thinking the last time I teed it up, I won. It's a good, positive attitude. You know, it had been a couple years. Maybe that takes a little of the pressure off. Tomorrow I can just go out and play some golf.

JIM FURYK: What hole?

JIM FURYK: Wasn't one foot in, one foot out. Off the tee?

JIM FURYK: My third shot, I was over the green left, in the rough, kind of in the gallery.

JIM FURYK: So 15. It was 15. That's the one I talked about, about switching back and forth with the clubs. It was just a funny lie. It was tough. Honestly, it was just a shot I was trying to get on the green and get out of there and not try to get cute and make bogey. But I still ended up making bogey.

JIM FURYK: I'm not sure. It went down the hill. No one was taking one for the team there; they got out of the way pretty quick (laughter).

JIM FURYK: No one put a chest or a shoulder in front of that one. Got down the hill pretty good.

JIM FURYK: Is there anything about my game that's not so conservative (laughter)? I don't know. I don't know. I'm not extremely superstitious. I'm sure I have a routine that I go through pretty much the same thing every day. I don't know if you'd call it superstition or I'm comfortable with do that every day. Not too bad. I don't wear like the same shirt or the same pants. I clean my socks and everything. Nothing changes.

JIM FURYK: I mark the ball with a quarter so I can see it. Especially on greens like these greens, towards the end of the day, they start to almost get a little brown in them because they've got them cut so low. You start putting pennies and different things on the ground, have a hard time seeing it. I do it for a visual to be able to see the coin from the opposite side of the hole, just be able to pick up where it is.

JIM FURYK: I've got a bag full of them, bag full of quarters. One of the ones in my bag will work.

JIM FURYK: On 13?

JIM FURYK: I wanted to hit a good, solid putt. It's also a double-edged sword. I was in the short cut of the rough on the right. I wanted to make sure I kept the ball short of the pin so I left myself a good putt. When you do that, you can be a little bit more aggressive with those uphill putts. But then again you don't want to knock one three or four feet by, have a downhiller coming back from three or four feet where you can't be aggressive at all. The thought was really to hit a good putt with really good speed, that got to the hole, but didn't go too far by. I actually died one in the hole. I saw the line pretty good. It went a little bit left off the bat, at the end it was just trying to fall right. You know, it's definitely the -- I'm not going to make that putt from 30 feet most of the time. But I felt good over it. I was pretty calm. I wasn't too upset about the bogeys. Really kind of talked myself into a good mind frame, and really thought back and just said, I didn't score very well on those holes. I really only hit one poor golf shot, just to hang in there, I was still in the golf tournament. At a time like that, you can get impatient, try to force putts, try to force things to happen, and end up making more mistakes. I just wanted to be patient. Eventually, it will pay off. It's nice when it pays off real quick.

JIM FURYK: I wouldn't go that far (laughter). It definitely soothes those last three holes a little bit. Like I said, I didn't let it bother me too much. At the time I was only I think two back with a lot of golf left. So you've just got to keep plugging away.

JIM FURYK: Pretty well. Pretty well. Other than letting a little one slide by, I hit a poor second putt on 11, pushed it a little bit. I had about three and a half, 4-footer kind of downhill. It was a little slick. I pushed it a little bit, let it go by the hole. Other than that, for the most part, I made six birdies today, so I made some about birdie putts. Made a good par-saving putt on 17. I think I putted pretty solidly today.

JIM FURYK: Birdies and bogeys, this could take a while (laughter). First birdie was No. 4. I think I hit -- is that right?

JIM FURYK: Hit a driver and 9-iron to about 20 feet left of the hole. Made that. I bogeyed 5. I drove it just in the right rough. I wedged it out onto the fairway. I hit a 9-iron to about seven feet, and I just missed the putt. I came back and birdied 6. I hit a 6-iron to about eight feet, knocked that in for birdie. Birdied 8, hitting 5-wood and a 9-iron to about eight feet, made that for birdie. No. 9 was an interesting hole. I drove it perfect down the middle. I got caught in between clubs going to the green. I thought the 3-wood was a little too much. Maybe the 5-wood, had to hit it pretty good to carry the bunker. I knew it would be enough to roll up onto the front of the green. It was on a downhill lie, I thinned it a little bit. Didn't quite make it over the bunker and the fairway. Rolled back in. I left myself about 65 yards to the pin. Hit a great shot out of the bunker with a sand wedge to about ten feet, knocked it in for birdie. I think that was probably an important play of the day. Then three bogeys. No. 10 I hit a driver and 5-iron that caught the lip of the bunker, jumped back in the bunker. I blasted out to about six or seven feet. I missed the putt. 11, I hit a 6-iron about 35, might have been 40 feet short of the pin. I had to go up over a little ridge. I thought I hit a good putt, but it slid by about four feet on me. Like I said before, I didn't hit a very good putt there and missed it. 12, I hit a 3-wood out to the right off the tee in the rough. I was kind of stuck. Knew I probably couldn't get it on the green. I wanted to keep the ball left there because of the way that green slopes, it would be a better pitch into the pin. So either on the front left part of that bunker or just over the bunker in the rough. I got it kind of about five yards left of the green there. Had a decent lie. Left the pitch about 15 feet short. Hit a good putt and it didn't go in. Birdied 13. It hit 3-wood, 9-iron, made about a 30-footer there. Bogeyed 15. We talked about that hole. I hit a driver and a 5-wood on that goofy lie, two pitches, 2-putts, made a bogey.

JIM FURYK: I hit that 5-wood again. Hit it about eight feet along left of the hole. Made a good birdie there. Good way to end the day.

JIM FURYK: Thanks.