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MERCEDES-BENZ CHAMPIONSHIP

January 5, 2008

Jim Furyk

KAPALUA, HAWAII

STEWART MOORE: We'd like to welcome the 2007 Canadian Open Champion Jim Furyk to the interview room here at the Mercedes-Benz Championship. I know you want to get out there and watch your Steelers so we'll try to speed this up for you. Ironically enough, you were invited by the team to come and attend this game courtesy of them earlier this week.
JIM FURYK: That's what you told me. I still need to know who invited me.

Q. It was from Mike Tomlin's office. It was some member of the coaching staff called the PGA TOUR to invite you to the game.
JIM FURYK: Yeah, it's flattering. I guess it's too bad I won last year. I would have enjoyed that immensely.
Yeah, I'm obviously a big Steeler fan. I don't know that many people from the organization. I have met some of the Rooney's before. They have actually supported my charity event up in the Philadelphia area. It's a lot of fun giving away Steeler tickets right in the heart of Philadelphia, which has been interesting (laughter). Yeah, I'm obviously excited about watching the game, and living in Jacksonville makes it even that much more interesting.

Q. Back to golf. Seven birdies out there, a round of 66.
JIM FURYK: Yeah, kind of a slow start. I really struggled with my putter early, believe it or not. I had a lot of -- a ton of opportunities to make birdie on the front nine and I was able to make two putts at 5 and 8, but I left -- I missed a little four-footer at 9 and missed a bunch of short ones, 1, 3, 6, some very, very makeable putts. Seven I had a good birdie putt. So I was a little frustrated. I got one to go in at 12 and hit it a foot on 14, hit it about -- I'm sorry, six, seven feet on 14 and hit it a foot on 15 and hit it tight again, three feet, on 16.
I actually did make some good strokes on the back nine and got to see some putts go in and really turned it around. When I started that nine I was pretty far back. And to go out there and shoot 5-under on the back, all of a sudden I'm within one right now and I'll probably be within three or four by the end of the day. So from way back to kind of in the thick of things tomorrow. So I'm hoping -- the last two days I putted poorly on the front, on Friday and Saturday, and played very well. I hope to play similarly tomorrow, but I've got to knock some putts in and get off to a little better start on the front nine and try to make it interesting.

Q. After you won the Vegas tournament in '95 you came over here and won what was then the Lincoln Mercury. Was that on this course or the Bay Course?
JIM FURYK: This one. The first two rounds were both courses and then the weekend was here.

Q. And then you win the tournament here in '01. Do you just like this golf course, or what is it about it? A lot of guys don't like this golf course.
JIM FURYK: I did a bad job kind of preparing for it I'd say the last couple years. Last year I played poorly. It was probably the only time I played badly here.
You just have to -- I was too busy preparing my game for the season and thinking about my swing and different things, and this golf course is just a lot of different golf shots. You don't really particularly have to hit the ball great to score well here, you've just got to be able to hit the right shots.
I know how to play at Kona, I know how to play the trade wind. After round 1 when I shot 74 I actually hit the ball pretty well and shot 1-over par, and I putted horrendous and my wedge game was bad. I just kind of revamped my thinking a little bit and said, I'm attacking this the wrong way. I'm so worried about my game and swing and getting so caught up in everything else, I'm just not going out and playing the golf course the way I need to. I've done a lot better job the last two days and still haven't putted very well and shot 10-under the last two days.
I had a hot putter for the back nine for two rounds. I need a hot putter for 18 holes tomorrow.

Q. 14 or 15 guys are within four strokes right now or just a little behind at least. How close do you need to be going into tomorrow to have a realistic shot?
JIM FURYK: Usually I think any time you're in -- within six shots you always have a chance to win a tournament. But that's depending on how many guys -- if you're six back and there's four guys in front of you, it's a little easier than being six back and having 15 guys in front of you, if that makes sense, or sometimes there's 20 or 25 guys.
I'll be close enough that I'll have an opportunity to win but I'm going to have to fire another really good round tomorrow.

Q. Everybody knows you have the house here. The fact that you live 5,000 miles away, why did you decide to build a home here? And this time did you come over like two weeks ago like some of the guys did or just a few days ago?
JIM FURYK: I came on Sunday night. The reason we decided to buy the property and build the house is my wife and I really love this area and my parents love the area. My family wanted to spend time here, and it hasn't worked out quite the way I would have liked for my wife and I with starting a family and our kids and our travel schedule. You know, we just really -- our first trip here we really enjoyed. I played well but that didn't have anything to do with how much fun we had and how much we liked the area. It was also at that time, when we bought the property back in '99, the market was very good to -- good buyers' market at the time, so I think we did a good job. Also, from a financial aspect it was a very intelligent move.

Q. A lot of guys worry about losing their swing in the elements here, particularly this time of year. Has that ever crossed your mind?
JIM FURYK: I think at this time of the year most guys are trying to find their swings rather than are worried about losing it (laughter).
I think next week -- this week is kind of a test of scoring, getting the ball in the hole. Next week is a little bit more of a test of ball-striking for me because you've got to hit it so straight at Waialae to play. Here you've got an opportunity to hit it all over the lot. If you're wedging the ball well and putting well you'll score well here. Next week you'll really need to drive the ball well and hit a lot more iron shots. Here it's all feel. You're hitting shots from 200 yards with a 7-iron and you're hitting shots from 150 yards with a 5-iron at times. It's feel and knowledge and kind of getting used to the golf course. And to me, I'm not making a lot of full swings around this golf course. Next week will be a little bit more of a test.
So I'm not really worried about losing my swing this week, I'm more worried about finding it for next week.

Q. Did the group behind you get lost?
JIM FURYK: They were pretty far back there. I'm not sure who it was. I know Vijay was back there, and he's actually pretty quick, and Charley is not slow, either. We must have just been playing quick. I have nothing for you. Tell Vijay he's getting old, he walks slow (laughter).

End of FastScripts

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