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CHARLES SCHWAB CHALLENGE

May 25, 2019

Jim Furyk

Fort Worth, Texas

Q. This is such a good golf course on a windy afternoon, for you to get around here bogey free has to be very satisfying.
JIM FURYK: Yeah, it's tough to do with all the wind, with conditions. I made a couple good up-and-downs, a couple good par saves today, and only two birdies on the card, so I'd like to -- it would be nice to make four or five birdies tomorrow and maybe go home with it.

Q. Did the fairways get narrower today? Did they play a little bit faster?
JIM FURYK: I think there was a little bit of chase to them. They seemed to be narrow all week for me. The way everything kind of twists and doglegs here, if the fairways chase, if the wind is blowing, it's tough to keep the ball in the fairway. I think it's been tough to hit fairways all week.

Q. At this point in your career, I don't mean this in a negative sense, but you don't know how many opportunities you're going to have to win on the PGA TOUR. This golf course seems like it sets up for you.
JIM FURYK: Well, we'll see. I like the golf course. It's not a power-dominated golf course. It's one you have to work the ball around, get the ball in the fairway, and when I'm playing well, I really enjoy this golf course. I'm not really looking at it as like the glass is half empty, the hourglass has almost run out of sand. I'm really enjoying being in contention, enjoying playing right now. This year has been kind of a new lease on life. I'm healthy again. I've had a lot of opportunity to practice, been working on a lot of equipment with Callaway. Just kind of excited about playing again and being pain-free, and I've had to give myself a couple chances, got myself in the thick of things this year, and obviously THE PLAYERS is one of those, so it's nice to have another opportunity tomorrow.

Q. What do you think it's going to take tomorrow? Jordan won with 65, Justin shot 64 last year. Do you think that's a pretty good target score, that mid-60 range?
JIM FURYK: It would be a great score. I think it's going to depend on conditions a little bit. The weather report I saw looked like about 15 miles an hour, similar direction. I think we're going to see a similar golf course to what we've seen the last couple of days in the afternoon. 65 would be a heck of a score. Did anyone go out this afternoon and shoot anything like that? So maybe it won't take that much. It will depend on the golf course and kind of the ebb and flow of things. Right now just -- I'll be focused on getting some rest and trying to play the golf course the same way tomorrow.

Q. Does the setup matter much at this course?
JIM FURYK: Well, yeah, I mean, the setup as far as some tee locations, maybe not quite as much. But rough length, how firm and fast the greens are. The greens have been somewhat pretty receptive, and real scoring still hasn't been very good, and that's obviously because of the wind. I think if we saw some calm conditions this week, after all that rain, I think guys would be firing some low numbers, as you've seen in other years. The tough one is when you get firm and fast greens and you mix this wind in, and I've seen a few years of that. It will be very difficult.

Q. Kevin Na was talking earlier in the week, and he only feels like there's seven or eight courses that he can realistically compete on the PGA TOUR, this being one of them. Do you feel the same way, or do you have a little bit more confidence?
JIM FURYK: Seven or eight? I think Kevin was -- my guess, I don't want to put words in his mouth, I think Kevin was trying to make a point. I saw that quote, so he made his point very clearly, and everyone listened. But I think Kevin can win on more than seven or eight courses out here because he's got a really solid game and doesn't make a lot of mistakes and he's real consistent. I think there's enough golf courses where folks like that, and I fit in that category, can win.

But our golf courses are getting longer, and our setups have definitely changed over the years, and that shots gained driving is a very interesting stat in that it far more favors distance than it does accuracy. You know, I think before this week I was leading the TOUR in fairways hit, and my shots gained driving isn't real solid.

So our setups have changed over the years, and in the 25 years I've played on TOUR, distance has always been important, but I think it's become more important, and some of that's because of the golf courses we're playing, because of the length of the golf courses, but also I think because of the setup of the golf courses. The rough isn't quite as severe and penalizing. I think when grooves changed back in 2010, setup ideas have changed a little bit, and taking that driver and bombing it has become a little bit more prevalent than it was when I first started playing the TOUR.

I'm not complaining. I think it's fun to watch. I think it's kind of like a little bit of the home run era of baseball, minus all the other stuff going on. But you know, everyone likes to see the home runs and the long ball, and I love watching Brooks Koepka just, I mean, demolish Bethpage. That's hard to do. But where he was driving it was amazing and really cool to watch.

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