KITCHENAID SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 29, 2021

Jim Furyk

Quick Quotes

Southern Hills Country Club

THE MODERATOR: Welcome back to the 2021 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. We're here at Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa, Oklahoma. We are joined by Jim Furyk who put up a 1-under par 69 today. Third round. He's currently 2-over par for the championship. Jim, that's a tough golf course out there today. You came in under par. Feeling good about what you did today and where do you stand?

JIM FURYK: Better. Better. I really liked the way I played on the front nine. Gave myself some opportunities, was able to convert, make some good putts. The back nine I got a little loose but made a couple nice saves, I kind of kept the round going on 14 and 15 with some good par saves. I had some chances at 17 and 18, didn't see the putts drop. Overall better. Better than I played the first couple of days. Made some birdies today, which covered up some mistakes and felt like I hit more fairways today so I had a chance to maybe attack a little bit more.

Q. What was the toughest part of the challenge? I think the low round out there is like 2-under. What's the toughest part of the test?

JIM FURYK: Probably the breeze. I got fooled a little bit. I probably hit two of my best shots on 10, that was one of my bogeys. Kind of got fooled by the wind direction. Just kind of figuring it out. There were some greens I thought that firmed up where the ball really wanted to chase. There was a couple where the ball hit really soft, especially on the front nine. I'm guessing they probably put some water on the course last night expecting this wind. So early on there were some balls that stopped a lot quicker than I expected and then as the day went on the greens started to firm up. But really the toughest part of the golf course is just, it's just a hard demanding golf course to start with and it's really the green complexes, they're very severe. These aren't greens where you can get the greens rolling 12 or 13, there's no pin placements in that case. So it's really the severity of the greens. You have a lot of putts that you can get a lot of five and 6-footers that are breaking quite a bit and the hole locations today I thought were difficult. Because the green speeds aren't crazy fast, that allows them to get some pin placements closer to ridges and edges than I think we definitely see out on the Champions Tour, but even closer than I say we see on the PGA TOUR at times, just because of the green speeds are allowing that.

Q. Was that some kind of personal mark, the first two rounds going without a birdie was strange for you. But then 33 pars out here is pretty kind of a mixed deal, right?

JIM FURYK: Yeah, I mean it is a major championship, it is a tough golf course, so pars never hurt. I don't think I've ever -- I don't think it's possible really unless it's a major to make a cut and not make a birdie. So we're usually used to seeing cuts being under par, so you got to be a little aggressive. I had my chances yesterday, I had we'll say five good looks for birdie and I hit probably two or three of those putts really well, right where I wanted them, burned some edge, hit a couple poor putts, wasn't able to convert. Luckily I was able to stay very, very patient and made some great up-and-downs on the back nine, kind of really, I was, I guess I was, I didn't hit the ball the way I wanted to the first two days, I missed a lot of fairways, I put myself in some tough situations and was just able to kind of scrap and grind and kind of keep myself hanging in there and set it up where if today I go out and play a good round I get myself kind of back in the golf tournament.