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TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP BY COCA-COLASeptember 11, 2014Jim FurykATLANTA, GEORGIA Q. (Off microphone)? JIM FURYK: I don't know. I was grinding it out. I played the last eight 4‑under just so I could get a little later tee time. Get some sleep, man. Saw the leaderboard and saw we're going off early. I wanted to make some birdies. Q. General thoughts on the round. JIM FURYK: Feel real good. Obviously got off to a slow start today. Missed some fairways early. Put together a bunch of pars. I bogeyed 5.  Missed a little up‑and‑down. And I was able to hit it about a foot on 8, and didn't get it up‑and‑down on 9 for birdie. I turned it even. Hit two good shots at 10 and knocked it over the green and hit a good pitch and just missed the putt. Felt like I was playing decent, but I was 1‑over through ten holes. Looking up at the board, didn't look like anyone was running away or the scores weren't that low today, but it was nice to get on a run. I parred 11, but out of the last seven holes I think I made four birdies. And a great up‑and‑down at 16 as well. So I really was able to get the ball in the hole well and turn a very mediocre day into a very good day really. Q. Were you surprised given the fact it's quite warm and not much wind that no one was kind of running away? JIM FURYK: I would have thought by the conditions and the practice round yesterday that scores would be pretty darned good today, and they weren't. I really struggled‑‑ it's not like it's windy out here like it's blowing, but it's breezy. But I misplayed the wind a lot today where I hit iron shots. I was expecting the ball to come down flag high and it was 25feet long. It wasn't like I missed it by three or four yards. I missed shots by eight yards or nine yards and was really surprised. And a lot of it‑‑ even though I shot 3‑under on the back, a lot of it was on the back. Some of the holes that I didn't make birdie I hit maybe better iron shots and staring them down and they weren't close. So maybe just a little tricky out there. I think the wind was kind of‑‑ it was switching around somewhere between kind of a south or a westerly wind and it was anywhere in there. Sometimes it felt west. Sometimes it felt south. Sometimes in the middle. I was just struggling with exactly where it was at. Q. (Off microphone)? JIM FURYK: I really wouldn't have either. But it fooled me. Q. You played this course many times now. What is most‑‑ I know you've been talking about the wind. What do you find most challenging about it? And is there anything in particular that you come back and you're learning for the first time when you play here? JIM FURYK: A lot of the defense of this golf course really is the Bermuda rough. You have to hit fairways. Some of them are very thin and very difficult to hit. 16 comes to mind. And then also I'd say the severity of the greens. They're very quick. And they have a lot of slope from back to front and I hit a lot of putts today where I had 20‑footers for birdie and really was putting extremely defensive because I was above the pin on the wrong side of the hole. And it's tough to stay patient. You gotta short iron your hand, whip one in there 15, 18feet behind the hole and you realize it's really not a great opportunity for birdie. And it's similar to the style of greens I grew up on, pitching very severe from back to front. But it's tough to make putts because you have a lot of putts that have a lot of break to them. Q. Every year on this podium everybody talks about what a grind it is, this last little bit with all the tournaments compressed together. Do you find that you pace yourself any differently in a Ryder Cup year than a non‑Ryder Cup year? And, if so, what is the difference in your pacing? JIM FURYK: What you see sometimes in I guess Ryder Cup, you're not‑‑ in the non you have Presidents Cup, but you see guys at the end of the year trying to chase it. They're really close to that top 10 or a selection on that team, and so they play an extra event or two and that tends to wear them out a little bit. But at this point in my career I kind of feel like I'm going to play the events I've signed up to play, and if it's not good enough to make the team, then it's not good enough. I know if I wear myself down, if I get too tired, that I'm not going to play well anyway. So I make the schedule kind of the beginning of the year. Unless injury or something comes into play, I pretty much know I am going to stick to it and hope it's good enough. Q. At this event, like after a round like today, do you go just, man, not only have I got this, I've got those matches coming up? Or is it just something that you're amped up for? JIM FURYK: Yeah, but I think the same words, just the inflection of the voice is a lot different, as in: Man, I've got those matches coming up‑‑ I'm excited. Not as in like: Damn. It's more of I'm excited about it. So you can get your mind‑‑ it's the same words, just the inflection is more excited than yours was. I think that you can prepare your mind and your body to do whatever you need it to do. If I knew I was going to play eight out of nine events and then if I made the Ryder Cup team, which I did, I was going to play nine out of 11. And I prepared myself to do that, and I'm a little worn down. I'm a little tired, I can feel my legs might not have the step they had in me eight weeks ago after a month off. But that's one of the reasons I took that month off. Most of it I wanted to spend time with my family in the summer, but a lot of it was knowing this big stretch was coming up and grind and I wanted to be ready for it. But you can prepare your mind to do that. Now, when it's all said and done and the Ryder Cup's over, I think a lot of that is going to‑‑ and then now you said, all right, go play one more week, it would be like, no chance, because my mind‑‑ but if you prepare for it, you can do anything. Q. Are you doing anything in the fall? JIM FURYK: I'm the fourth wheel at the Grand Slam. So‑‑ it's a good wheel to be. I made a lot of‑‑ it will be my fifth Grand Slam. I made a lot out of that one major. Q. What are you doing? JIM FURYK: I'm going to play Tiger's event down at ‑‑ I think it's at (indiscernible) this year. Does that sound right? I'm going to play that. That's it. Q. Talk about that month off as well. Did you take any events off during that run? JIM FURYK: From two to threeyears ago, it was Greenbrier and Congressional, the AT&T and the Greenbrier event. Then from last year it was the only the AT&T. And I really do like Congressional. And Fluff is a member there. He's the caddy. Last winter I went over the schedule and I said, Here's your goal. 22 events. We've got to get the schedule to 22. That's where I feel like I'm mentally at my best and where I'm going to play my best. And he said, You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to go home, look at the schedule for next year. And he goes, Do you want my opinion? I said, Sure, you've been on the bag all these years. Why don't you give me your opinion? He came back and he said, You're not going to believe this. I said, You took Congressional off. He goes, I did. I can't believe I'm saying it, but it just makes sense for you and your family and what you want to do. I missed the golf course, because I love it so much. But I didn't play the other three for the last few years anyway. So it gave me that extra one week, though, gave me the ability to go out West and not have to be on a plane back and forth or have to go home in the middle. And we had a lot of fun as a family. Q. Didn't Mike work that week anyway? JIM FURYK: I don't think he did. He's a member there. Q. Looking for a bag‑‑ JIM FURYK: He was hanging out. His wife and daughter were there, and I think they‑‑ I'm not sure‑‑ they wanted to see the tournament and be out there, hang with friends. And they have a lot of friends at the club. Q. (Off microphone)? JIM FURYK: Maybe. It's a little more‑‑ he got an extra week in there. And it was even hotter than the week we played. Q. What do you like most about the buildup to the Ryder Cup ahead of the (indiscernible)? JIM FURYK: What do I like most about the buildup? All the crap you guys come up with is exciting, especially on the other side. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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