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WGC BRIDGESTONE INVITATIONALAugust 7, 2015Jim FurykAKRON, OHIO CHIRS REIMER: We'll get started. Current leader at 8 under par, Jim Furyk. A familiar position at this course you've had some success at. Just talk about your first two rounds and being in a good position going into tomorrow. JIM FURYK: Yeah, obviously happy with back-to-back 66s. Yesterday I felt like I played a really good round. I got the ball in the hole. I scored. I didn't always hit -- didn't hit a lot of fairways yesterday. Missed some greens when I shouldn't have, but I just managed to -- made a bunch of birdies. Made six birdies. Managed to score, got the ball in the hole, and had a few things I wanted to work on on my golf swing. I came out today, I felt a little better about it. I hit the ball more solid. Hit more fairways. Had more confidence. Made a couple of loose swings here and there, but for the most part I felt like -- I missed a couple putts as well. I think I had some opportunities early in the round to really get it going and stalled a little bit. Then I was able to birdie 17 and 18 and 2 to kind of jump start the round and get 3-under pretty quick. So overall, pleased with it. Felt like I was moving in the right direction today. Hopefully, I'll continue to gain more confidence in my swing. Q. What's going on with the ceremony tomorrow night? What's your schedule with that? JIM FURYK: It's my understanding that Bettis is being enshrined last of the seven. So it starts at 7:00, and I hear it goes from -- I've never been, but I hear it ends at 10:00 or 11:00. Shouldn't be an issue to get there and see it. Q. Did they change the schedule for you? JIM FURYK: It's my understanding that Steelers always go last. And you'd have to check it. It's usually alphabetical order, from what I understand, but when there's a Steeler, they go last because there's so many people that come over, they're afraid people will leave early. Q. How did that come about? Did he invite you? JIM FURYK: We've met a few times through commercials with the TOUR, and he always comes down and plays our charity event in March and April in Ponte Vedra. So I'm friendly with him. I'm sure I was one of a thousand people to receive an invite, but I was honored to get one. I figured it would be a great, great thing to do to take the kids to see, and they're up here with me. We're going to go see the game on Sunday as well. I kind of regret not going to see maybe like Dick LeBeau get in and some of the Steelers while I was here. I watched that one on television, but being so close, it seemed like just something fun to do. He supported us and our foundation a bunch, it would be nice to go see him get in. Q. You grew up in West Chester, is that correct? JIM FURYK: I was born in West Chester. I grew up -- we lived in Pittsburgh for a couple of years, and I grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in eastern Pennsylvania. Lancaster is 50, 60 Miles out of Philly. My mom and dad are from Pittsburgh, and I spent all my holidays there, every Christmas, every Thanksgiving growing up. The whole family is Pittsburgh through and through. I think, when I lived there, it was from about '72 to '77 or '78. They won two or three Super Bowls while I was there, won four in that '74 to '79 stretch. So it was a pretty easy team to root for when your whole family were Steeler fans. Q. Jim, Jordan won the first two majors. Zach won The Open. It seems to me -- not necessarily the short hitter, but the medium length hitter, if you will. You had a win earlier this year yourself, just wondering what does it say about the way that you guys play golf and how you manage on a long golf course? JIM FURYK: Jordan is quite a bit longer than Zach and I. Q. Not a bomber. JIM FURYK: Not a bomber, but he's quite a bit longer. I'd give him medium. And Zach -- I'd give me on the short side. Zach might be a little bit longer than I am. Jordan is just -- right now he's playing like the best player in the world, and he can win anywhere right now. I'm impressed with what he's doing. I was really -- I always think of St. Andrews as being probably the toughest venue for me on The Open rotation. For me to win being a short hitter. I think it's more of a bomber's golf course. That being said, I was really impressed and happy for him and proud of Zach for -- again, he's won two majors at Augusta and at St. Andrews. Those are bombers' golf courses. For him, I'd pick out like a U.S. Open venue, but he's able to -- I always felt like, when I was playing well, I could win anywhere, but he's been able to do it. Pretty happy for him. Q. What specifically are you doing at all differently this year that keeps you relevant and brought you another win and put you in this position? JIM FURYK: I don't know. I feel like -- you mean this entire year? I feel like I've been relevant for a lot of my career. I'm just doing the same stuff. Q. I never said you were irrelevant. JIM FURYK: Right. I think that -- I've had a couple of years where I've chased distance and I've looked for products that went farther, and in doing so, physics tells you you can hit it -- there's years where I've hit it farther. A titanium driver came out in the mid-'90s, and we instantly gained ten yards. And solid golf balls, we gained a bunch of yards. But now, if you're chasing distance, you're giving up in other parts of your game. I think for me I've just realized that I hit far enough. I don't hit it that far, but I hit far enough. I've kind of kept my -- the clubs that I play, the products I play, and working with Callaway, I always have products where I can really spin the golf ball. So in doing so, I can take advantage of my strengths, which is hitting the ball pretty straight when I'm playing well, and from 120 yards and in, I feel like I've got a ball and I've got products that spin. So I have an advantage that I can go in there and stop shots and spin the ball and control the flight and control distance of the golf balls well. So I have to take advantage of my strengths. Really, I haven't changed anything other than -- if I've changed anything the last two or three years, it's really been my attitude as far as not playing too much. I'm trying to cut down on my schedule. It's difficult. Next year I'm going to add Kapalua and possibly Sony. Where I'm trying to cut down two events, all of a sudden now I've got to figure ou a way to cut out four. I'm trying to get down to 18 next year. I don't think it's going to happen. I'm at 20 this year. It's a comfortable spot. I think that I'm playing less. I don't play in the fall, and it bothers a lot of guys. They say, don't you feel weird when you start so far behind? I know I'm going to play 20 events. It doesn't really matter where I play them. You either play well and you do well in the FEDEX or you don't play well and you're toward the bottom. It is what it is. Q. Jim, is there any sense of unfinished business for you with this course specifically given your close calls, especially 2012? JIM FURYK: Well, I would say that I'm disappointed I've never won here. It's one of my favorite courses we play. Before I'd won at Hilton Head at 2010, that was a course. Colonial is a place I'd like to win. Riviera, here, all really good classic golf courses. So I'm disappointed, but to have like a chip on my shoulder or -- no. I don't look at it -- it's another year and opportunity, and we're only halfway. Just go out, and I'm going to try to do the same things this weekend and not really look at the leaderboard that much and go try to shoot under par every day. Q. You're not really used to seeing this place this dry. It usually is kind of soggy. Was your ability to kind of spin the ball, is that why you kind of maybe mastered it more than some of the others? JIM FURYK: I don't spin the ball more than anyone else. I have to use products that spin so I can. Because I don't generate as much club head speed and because I don't hit the ball that far, I have to use products that spin a little more than most to gain as much spin as they do. I like to see the golf course firm. It's hard -- it plays that much shorter, but it's that much harder to hit the fairways, and I think that -- when I'm playing well, that falls into my strengths. Q. And you remember, though, how it's had to have been '08 or before since it's been like this, right? JIM FURYK: No, we had one like two years ago, I want to say. In the past two years, I hit like a sand wedge into 18 one day or a gap wedge into 18, and it was playing really firm, even firmer than what it is now. Obviously, that's what they're trying to get to, but we've caught some rain and some rough weather. We all like to see it firm and fast. I think it separates the guys who are playing well from the guys that aren't. It makes that separation that much greater. Q. This question was kind of for you, but in a way it relates to someone like Dustin as well. I'm curious, when I have a couple of times where you very easily could have, should have won and haven't, and when you come back to that course, how much you guys as professionals, how much that's just gone or how much you have memories of it when you return to a place like that? And not to turn this into a really long question, I guess what I was thinking of is, even though you lost, you played pretty good golf for 71 holes. And in the case with Tiger, it was more like 78. Dustin goes back to Whistling Straits next week where everyone knows what happened. On the other hand, you play pretty good golf there too. How do you guys look at that? JIM FURYK: I think for me a year is plenty of separation. You come back. I've always been able to put things behind me pretty quickly. You have to. You get beat up in golf pretty quickly, so you have to have that mentality where you can think about it for a while. You can go back and figure out what you did wrong, how you could have done it differently, what could I have done better, how will I handle the situation the next time? That process goes pretty quickly. I try to tee it up -- the next time I peg in for a tournament, I've had it behind me, if that makes sense. So to come back a year later is not an issue. When was the last time we were at Whistling Straits? Q. Five years ago. JIM FURYK: Five years ago, 2010. So I think five years is a lot of time. I think for Dustin what will come up again is the U.S. Open and the near misses in the recent future. Everyone wants to know -- he's played so well, and it's a matter of time, he's so talented. Everyone wants to know if he's got -- I was reading an article earlier. I don't know if it was in the paper or maybe one of the magazines in the locker room about him having scars and if that's a good or a bad thing. Everyone's got them out here. That's the first thing that went through my mind. There isn't anyone that doesn't have scars and doesn't have a memory when they step up on a tee where the last two times they hit it left in the water and then you've got to step up on the tee and rip one down the middle. So it's happened to all of us. It's how you handle those situations that end up making or breaking you and your career. Q. Were you at all surprised to have that kind of a gap open up the day? You went to the 9th tee and you're up by six? JIM FURYK: A little bit. But I also don't think that that gap is going to stay there for the rest of the day either. I think that's going to close up. Yeah, considering -- yeah, I was surprised that the best score in my wave was 3-under. But when you're playing well and putts are going in, things just happen. I was also surprised to birdie 7 and 8 coming down the stretch too. I figure you got three left, and I walked off 9 disappointed, and I said, wait a second, I just played the last three, 7, 8, 9, at 1-under. I shouldn't be disappointed. But feels like a kick in the ribs after making a good drive at 9 and getting bogey. Q. You're 45. Jordan's 22. Do you have any golf equipment at home that you've owned longer than he's been alive? JIM FURYK: Who's 22? Q. Jordan Spieth. JIM FURYK: Jordan is 22. Do I have any -- so he was born in -- I was on Tour when he was born probably, or close to it. Was he born '93 or '94? Q. '93. JIM FURYK: '93, so my first year on Tour was '94. I probably don't have any clubs before my rookie year on Tour still left. Q. Sweaters, hats? JIM FURYK: No, I'm not going to break out any Nick Faldo sweaters (laughter). Q. Does the win at Hilton Head create any extra level of comfort for you being the guy in the spotlight going into the weekend here? JIM FURYK: I think it's nice. It's nice to get some confidence. It had been so long since I'd won. I'm not sitting here answering questions about winning now where, had I not won at Hilton Head, we'd be talking about how many leads I took into Sunday and didn't work out and how long it's been since I've won and why haven't I? It's a refreshing conversation to sit here and talk. I think it helps. It helps any time you get over the hump and go ahead and win. It's a tough of confidence and a feather in your hat. Hopefully -- again, hopefully, I'll play well tomorrow and get myself in position for Sunday. If I do, I'll look back on that round and what I did right and try to do those things again. Q. Does Bettis play golf? JIM FURYK: Yeah, he plays in our foundation event. He's a big man, but, yeah, he does. Q. Do you ever bowl together? JIM FURYK: I haven't. When he comes to our event, he's had -- one year he had a charity event in Jacksonville at a bowling alley. He was doing something bowling. So apparently, he takes it serious. I think he brought his own gear and was ready to go. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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