Jim Furyk - Part 1 (The Early Years)

Major Championship winner Jim Furyk begins his story with his recollections of growing up in Pennsylvania and developing his game under the watchful eye of his golf professional father. Encouraged to swing "naturally", Jim used his "distinctive" swing to good effect with a strong junior career and a solid collegiate record at the University of Arizona where he was a 2-time All-American and his team won the 1992 NCAA Division I title. He recounts the specific game plan he and his dad developed, after his junior year, to become a more consistent player and to position him for Tour competition. That paid off and helped Jim get through the 1993 Tour School (his second attempt) on the four and six-round cut numbers. Jim Furyk takes us through his formative years, "FORE the Good of the Game."

Transcript

Mike Gonzalez 0:14

Welcome to another episode of FORE the Good of the Game. Two things about our guests this morning. First, I think it's tied for our youngest guest that we've had so far out of 43. He has several nicknames. And I really haven't made much of a big deal about it. We've kept it out of the press all these years, but it may come up this morning.

Bruce Devlin 0:47

Okay. Well, I wonder who we're talking about. We're talking about a man that's had uh 29 victories. Uh uh he's the only player uh on the PG Tour to have ever broken 60 twice. Uh uh commonly known today as Mr. 58, the uh 2003 U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk. Thank you, Jim, for joining us today. Mike and I look forward to uh talking to you about your career.

Jim Furyk 1:15

Yeah, I look forward to it. Uh, you know, it's been a long time since 03, 19 years has passed, and uh I made a key birdie on the 15th hole there at the U.S. Open on Saturday, kind of started to separate myself from the field. And Mike was the uh the lead marshal on the 15th hole, and I think uh his presence was a calming effect, and uh it really kind of held led me down the stretch.

Mike Gonzalez 1:40

There you go. Well that thanks for playing along, Jim. Um but in all seriousness, the the one thing I noticed, and we'll come back to this to talk about the entire uh open experience that you had. But the one thing that struck me, because I was on that T stun up to stun down in all seven days of the practice rounds when you get to the Sunday and Bruce Notice, when you get to the Sunday of a major and the final group hits that T deep into the last round, the tension, the vibe, the seriousness of the moment. We'll talk about that uh we'll talk about that great memory. So, Jim, as we've talked about, we're here to talk about your life and tell your life story in your voice. And uh what Bruce and I always like to do is just go back to the beginning. So uh born in Westchester, Pennsylvania, way back on the same day that Mike Weir was born, right?

Jim Furyk 2:37

Yeah, exact same day, that's right. Uh but he's from Canada, so he puts uh the twelfth day of the fifth month of 1970. I'm the fifth month day. Yeah, we get it mixed up a little bit, but it actually is the same day. We write it different, though.

Mike Gonzalez 2:51

Yeah. So so you guys are tied as being our our two youngest uh guests. But anyway, uh talk uh uh talk to us about the life growing up in that part of the world and uh and how you got into golf and and those kind of things. Yeah.

Jim Furyk 3:03

Well, it's a it's it was a wonderful place to grow up. Uh my dad was uh both a golf professional uh in the Philadelphia and and uh Pittsburgh areas, and then he became a sales rep uh for what was then Tommy Armour golf. I think it was PJ golf became Tommy Armor Golf. Uh they chose Southeast Pennsylvania. It wasn't really the center of his territory, but they kind of fell in love with the area in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and um and about 50 miles west of Philadelphia. So uh it was a great place to grow up. Um, you know, kind of a I realize it's the Northeast, but I think kind of had a little bit of a Midwest feel, in my opinion. And and uh also just I didn't realize how rich in golf course design, golf courses the Philadelphia area was. When I started, when I turned pro, when I started traveling the country, started traveling the world, and then I looked back at the golf courses that I grew up on and uh realized just how how many great golf courses there are in the Philadelphia area. So um, you know, it was uh a nice place to grow up as a kid, but also uh gave me a great introduction to uh to some wonderful golf courses.

Mike Gonzalez 4:10

If you're like a number of our guests, they talked about the experience growing up where they they tried a lot of different sports and they look back on that as uh as good in terms of developing uh hand-eye coordination, developing their entire body, learning team play, and so forth. Did you have a similar experience?

Jim Furyk 4:26

I was football, basketball, and baseball. Dad uh I won't say dad held me out of golf, but it was by far the one sport that he pushed the least. Um and so I played football, baseball, basketball. I really didn't start playing a lot of golf. He he introduced me, we'd go to the range together, but I didn't start playing golf on my own until I was about 12 years old, and and that season was really short, because once baseball ended, which was well into the summer in Pennsylvania, and then football started in the fall, I really had about 60 days uh to play golf, and you know, kind of dust off the clubs in the garage, go play for every day for 60 days and then put them away and wouldn't touch them again until the next summer. So uh I do I I I I feel like we push today we push kids into one sport way too early. And I think you learn so many, whether it's a cross-training effect, uh, but you learn so many different great things, not only physically, but as you mentioned, in a team type atmosphere uh from playing a lot of different sports. And um I I'm you know, I uh uh to this day I'm a huge sports fan. And uh I traveled most of my career with my family, was traveling with me, Tapitha, the kids, they were around, and I just didn't we all enjoyed being together. But as the kids have gotten older and more, you know, they're in school, uh I've traveled a lot by myself, and so I find myself basically uh checking what games are on every that's basically what I do every night is I have you know last week it was hockey and basketball. My son plays lacrosse, so uh I'm starting to stream a lot of lacrosse games. We're right in the in the heart of uh the NC2A playoffs uh in every division, one, two, and three. So I pick a game out uh every other day, and you know, or in the weekends and watch those. And um I I just you know, anything with a ball, a bat, a glove, you name it, uh I I enjoy watching.

Bruce Devlin 6:11

So, Jimmy, you said that uh that your dad Mike uh used to take you out to the to the practice range. Now, my uh my understanding is that he's the only one that's ever had anything to do with your golf swing. He's been your teacher and mentor from day one.

Jim Furyk 6:28

Yeah, he's he's the only teacher I've really ever had. Now, that being said, there's a number of great teachers and great players in the Philadelphia area. So dad would take me uh in high school to play uh play rounds of golf with other folks. Uh Ed Dockerty and he started in the business together. So I can remember playing uh you know a round of golf with Ed. Uh Stu Ingram was a tour player, going and playing uh with Stu with his home club. Uh so I always he kind of introduced me to playing with some better players, and then also once in a while we'd make a visit and I would I would see uh uh another teacher. And usually, usually under dad's supervision, I would see another teacher. Uh kind of it was kind of I think a cross check just for dad to make sure that everyone kind of felt we were on the right path. I mean, my swing was a little different. Um I had a lot of success as a junior, um, but I think he was just uh it was a it was a check on himself a little bit just to make sure, hey, you think we're going down the right path. Or there were some teachers that maybe had a different way to introduce a new idea, you know, working the ball left to right, right to left, um, and dad might take me to them just to, you know, maybe hear it in a different fashion. And uh, but but really my dad oversaw everything, and and since I've been out of college, uh the only the only teacher I've ever seen.

Mike Gonzalez 7:46

I I think our listeners would be very interested to understand the genesis of your distinctive golf swing.

Jim Furyk 7:54

Yeah, uh, it was very natural. So I think uh I think my dad's extremely underrated as a teacher. Um you know, I've had a lot of success in my career, and they start naming the best teachers in the in the country, and and never was my dad mentioned in that breath, but I realized he didn't have a lot of pupils as well. Uh he teaches his friends at home. He really it's been a long, long, long, long time since he's been paid to be a teacher. Um But I think what makes him so good is he's a good communicator. Um you know, I I think everyone learns in a different fashion, everyone has a different set of uh skill sets and abilities and and also kind of a ceiling, right, for how how how athletic and how good they may be able to become. And uh I think dad just really is a good communicator. He he realizes he realized at an early age that I was not very mechanically inclined. I could not work through teachings and mechanics, face angles, you know, pronation, like those terms just did not make a lot of sense. I couldn't put them into action in my gospeling. So he found ways to communicate with me through shot shape, through uh feel. Um, you know, we we really honed in on my fundamentals, and you know, the the ball flight's not gonna lie, path, club face angle, I'll have to be there. But he allowed me to go about it a different way because he realized that that it was very natural for me. And and dad always believed that what was natural was repeatable, that if you had to kind of break a golf swing down and rebuild it, that under pressure that would that would be very difficult to replicate and do over and over again.

Bruce Devlin 9:28

Jim, I remember s uh standing on the practice tee and uh at uh TPC and Scotstar watching you and your dad work on the practice tee when I was out there doing TV. And uh the one thing that I noticed that that another great player had was a teacher that that he believed in, and it was Jack Nicholas, and his teacher always said to him, Now, Jack, don't get too far away from that ball. And you you are the epitome of a guy that doesn't stand too far away from the golf ball. So yeah.

Jim Furyk 9:59

I'm battling being a little too close at the moment. We're actually funny you say that because I always in my career thought that you could never, you know, Byron Nelson had a quote that you could never stand too close to the ball. I think I might might be one that have kind of proved that wrong, that I'm I'm trying to get a little bit more relaxed and get my hands hanging underneath me a little bit more instead of jammed up underneath my body. So uh I I do stand very close to the ball, very narrow. I do things quite a bit different. My grip's a little different. I had a different putting uh grip throughout my career. I do a lot of things different, but uh You've done them well though. They're comfortable, and I think uh I was always a pretty good athlete, pretty good hand-eye, and and and just try to kind of use uh use those tools the best I can.

Bruce Devlin 10:44

Some people have uh have had some rather strange things to say about Jim Furick's swing. As a matter of fact, Gary Court, Gary McCord said that uh he evokes the image of a uh of a one-armed golfer with an axe trying to kill a snake in a telephone booth. Now, now if you can tell me what the hell that means, I'd be interested, Jimmy.

Jim Furyk 11:08

Yeah, I think uh I think uh Fardy had an octopus falling out of a tree was one. Uh that's right. You know, I I I I I think I think the world of Gary and and David and and they definitely had some fun and poked at it, uh, but it was all in jest and and I I actually laughed at it. I thought it was great. You know, one of the things one of the things that was really good for me as a young player is when I when I had a very successful junior career and I had a decent college career, but I left uh University of Arizona, we won our national championship, we had a number of guys on our team that signed with agents, a couple of them were labeled kind of can't miss, um, and I kind of got to sneak under the radar. Uh, you know, didn't hire an agent, wasn't really expected to become a successful pro. Um, the one thing when I did, when I and I had a pretty rapid ascent from uh college golf to making it to the PGA tour and then being successful in the PGA tour, it happened pretty fast for me. Uh one of the things that was really kind of a a feather in my cat was the difference in my swing. Like people took notice really early and it garnered where I could kind of improve at my own rate because the expectation wasn't high, uh it did garner a lot of attention. And so uh from a corporate perspective or from a television perspective or from a fan perspective, you know, I saw folks carrying an umbrella on the ropes and they were over there imitating my swing, like uh, you know, out in the gallery, and I would kind of chuckle about it. Um so it did it did get me a little bit of attention probably before uh you know I started playing well and and and started getting it for my scores.

Mike Gonzalez 12:49

And there are other distinctive swings out there as well, as you know, and and uh it just sort of uh is illustrative of the fact that it really doesn't matter how you get that ball or that club face squared up to the ball, does it?

Jim Furyk 13:04

Uh it doesn't. It doesn't. Like I said, the the ball doesn't lie, physics are gonna take over. You still have to have a pretty good pass and a pretty good face angle, but um you know the the gentleman that I like to watch the swing maybe the most is Lee Trevino. Um he was just at uh in Houston at Insparity and he's on the back of the range, and you know, he definitely chats a lot more than he hits balls, but when he does hit balls, no kidding. He pokes at me so much, so anytime I get a chance to get in there and just get get one in, I do. But I I love Lee. I don't get a chance to see him very often, and I really don't know him that well, but when I do spend some time with him, I enjoy it. And uh but I love watching him hit golf balls and one of the best and purest ball strikers of all time. And he gets there in a different way, but he repeats it over and over and over again and uh can hit it right to left, left to right, high, low. He can pretty much do whatever you want with the golf ball, and um it's fun to watch.

Bruce Devlin 14:00

Well, we were fortunate enough to interview Lee last week. So uh we got to spend about well, we we didn't do much talking.

Jim Furyk 14:09

I just said you didn't ask a lot of questions.

Bruce Devlin 14:14

But he, you know, you're right, Jimmy. He's a he's a really class actor, Vino. He's been uh been a great friend of mine for a long time. I love competing against him because you know all that ever mattered was uh put the T in the ground on the first T and then uh shoot the best score you could. If you were beating him, he was okay about that, although he he liked to beat you all the time.

Mike Gonzalez 14:38

Yeah, we had a great time with Lee and Jim, even you'd probably enjoy hearing some of these stories of some of which we probably haven't heard before, but uh uh these two had some great times uh playing together back in the 60s and 70s. So you mentioned uh college career, uh University of Arizona, two-time All-American there. Uh that NCAA title, uh team title came in 1992. Who were some of the other guys you played with back then?

Jim Furyk 15:02

Uh so I played with a gentleman named Manny Zerman, who's South African. Manny lost two U.S. Amateur finals while we were in school, so he made it to the finals twice. Uh Dave Brigano, who did play the tour for a little while. Uh Dave won two U.S. Amateur Pub Links titles while we were in college. Uh played with another guy from La Jolla, California, uh Harry Rudolph, who was a first team All American our senior year. He started at Oklahoma State, transferred over to Arizona. And then uh, let me see, early in my career we had uh Robert Gomez, uh I think a three-time winner on tour. I spent one year with him. Uh another gentleman that works at Ping right now, his name is Christian Pena. Um he played the Corn Fairy Tour and also played in Japan probably for about a decade. Uh good player. So we we had a strong, strong team. When we won NC2As, our fifth man is actually, he's a businessman and uh very successful businessman in uh Phoenix, one of the guys that didn't turn pro. But uh, you know, a bunch of good players that had uh at least like kind of a Corn Fairy uh type career on on the P or you know and a few guys that played the PJ Tour. So uh solid group. We had uh we had a lot of battles in practice, I'll say that. I had a lot of competition and and uh you know, some good years, some not so good. I played great my freshman year, sophomore year. I was an all-American both years. Uh really struggled my junior year, uh, and I mean really struggled, had a hard time with my game. It was a uh kind of a great year to grow up, not not only from a physical, but also from just uh, you know, just being a kid and and uh and getting a little older and making some mistakes. And then uh it hit me that summer after my junior year that uh you know I'm playing awful. I've got one more year of school left, and then I really want to turn pro. But you know, what in the world makes me believe that I'm gonna go out there and play against Fred Couples, Davis Love, and Greg Norman in in a year and a half? I mean, the way I'm playing right now. And so it kind of made me dig deep that summer and get ready for my senior year. And uh my dad always had a you know, as a kid, you you you tend to think about today and tomorrow. You don't really think down the road in long term. And and uh my dad asked me uh what my goals were for my senior year, and I said that I wanted to be an all-American again. And he kind of said, Well, you know, that's great, but you know, do you want to turn pro at the end of the year? And I said, I do. He said, Do you think any of the guys that are professionals really care if you're an all-American? And I said, What do you mean? He goes, You're gonna turn pro and they don't it doesn't matter to those folks. They just want to beat your ass every day. Basically, you know, you what what do we need to do these next twelve months to get you ready to be a golf professional, to turn pro and and try to make a living playing this game? And and so we kind of sat down about what I thought I needed, you know, what what I struggled with my junior year, what needed to improve. We tried to make a plan of how I was gonna get there, and um it just really got me thinking forward, you know, wow, how is my game gonna translate at the next level and what do I need to do to actually get there? And uh I had a really good senior year. I actually wasn't an all American. It was actually my I in my opinion, it was my best season. I I I played the best, I was the most consistent from from front to back. Um you know, one of the things I never did in college, I never won a tournament, uh, which is interesting to a lot of people. Uh I was a much better professional than I was uh a college player, but uh that year was really successful and I gained a lot of confidence in myself, and it really helped me when I turned pro that summer to uh to kind of switch it over to the next level.

Bruce Devlin 18:35

So, Jimmy, what what were some of the things that uh you and your dad worked on to transform your game from not playing so well as a as a junior?

Jim Furyk 18:44

I went to college. Uh folks, if they know my game, are gonna kind of laugh. I went to college very long and very crooked. Um I hit the ball really long and wild, which you know nowadays would be perfect, right? If I was a kidding, if I was a kid in college and I bombed it and you know maybe didn't hit as many fairways as I should, I I wouldn't even it wouldn't even phase me. I wouldn't even bother trying to change that kid. But when I turned pro, it was imperative on the PJ Tour to hit fairways. The golf course setups had a little longer rough. Uh the greens were a little firmer, a little faster than I think what we see today. Um, you know, the golf ball was different. Uh everything about the game was different then. And you needed to control ball fights a little bit more, trajectories, you need to be able to move the ball right to left, left to right. And in college, I was kind of long, I was a little wild. I really was a one-way player. I hit the ball left to right. Uh, I really struggled to draw the ball. Um and so, and I wasn't very consistent, which I mean, how many 18-year-olds are to be honest with you? There's not a lot of 18-year-olds that are consistent. So, you know, when I was on, I was on, but then I also shot some some some high numbers as well. So the plan was to to become a better driver of the golf ball, to hit more fairways, um, to maybe control the golf ball a little bit better, not be so wild. Uh, I wanted to learn how to draw the I knew it was gonna be a work in progress. I wanted to learn to draw the ball a little bit better, and when I had to, I wanted to have that ability. Um, I was always pretty good at being able to control trajectory as far as high and low, knocking the ball down was never an issue. Um and really just a consistency thing. Even when I turned pro, I realized early in my first couple years on tour that when I played well, I had the ability to win, and I did win my second year on tour. But what I saw from the greatest players, and at the time, you know, Greg Norman was ranked number one, Nick Price was ranked number one for a long time early in my career. What I saw from those folks is consistency. I saw them in the hunt, in contention, with opportunities to win quite often, and then that's why they were able to win quite often because they knocked on the door so often. They gave themselves so many opportunities. And and I just told my dad that I wasn't consistent enough and I had to do it more on a day-in, day, you know, day-out basis, and and so we kind of went to work on those things. Um early in my career as well. We worked on my wedge game. Um I thought I was a good wedge player in college, and then I got to the tour and I realized that I wasn't that great of a wedge player, so I was very average at best. And and if I was going to hit more fairways and I wasn't gonna hit the ball as far anymore, I really felt like I needed to improve my game from 120 yards and in. And and uh and I would say uh from year two on tour to year five on tour, I really believe I became one of the best wedge players that that I was ready to challenge anyone from 120 yards and in. And and one of the guys I really admired watching uh do the same uh later in my career was Mike Weir. And so I guess we're like you said, we were born on the same day, and Mike and Mike still to this day can hit a wedge. It is it's lefty, it's harder to kind of get a feel for what he's doing because it's it's from the opposite side, but uh he controls his trajectory, his spin, uh, and his touch and uh uh ability to hit his numbers is really good, and so he's one of the guys I really enjoy watching. So it must be something about May twelfth, uh for that.

Mike Gonzalez 21:58

There you go. There you go. Uh So who are some of the other uh influencers on your game? You mentioned your father, you mentioned some of the great players that uh were on the tour when you came on the tour, but just as you uh as your game developed as a young man, who were some of the people that you really paid attention to?

Jim Furyk 22:17

Uh everyone. Um I really liked uh I was a lot I was very shy, so asking folks for a practice round was something that was difficult for me. I'd just kind of linger and hope they asked more than go over and and uh and and ask them. But I do remember um Bruce Litzke um was on the Tom Yarmer staff and Jim Gallagher was on the Tommy Armor staff early in my career. I didn't play a lot of golf with them, but but when I did, I asked a lot of questions. Uh they were kind of we used to have like a big brother. When I first came on tour, you were kind of assigned an older pro that, you know, if you if you needed to ask any questions, they were supposed to kind of be there for you. And and I think Jimmy was my big brother, and then uh, you know, Bruce, uh, I had met when I was 11. He wouldn't remember that, but I met him in US Open when I was eleven, and and so I always kind of looked up to those two because my dad worked for that company and they were the two best players at the time for that company. And um, I remember playing a practice round with Andy North, Bruce Litzke, and Tom Kite. And I grew up in the north. I really didn't know a lot about Bermuda grass. I wasn't living in Florida yet. We were down playing the Honda, and uh and the grain was really messing with me a little bit. I was struggling, kind of figuring out grain on greens, chipping into the grain, different things. And so uh I'm sure he realized it after about five holes, but I just followed Tom Kite around. Wherever he went, I kind of went around the around the greens. And I was I really prided myself on being like a good practice round player and preparing for a course, but he was doing things that I'd never seen before and meticulous and writing stuff down in his yardage book, and it was killing me. Like I couldn't figure out what he was doing. So finally, my whole six, I finally said, you know, can I ask you a question? You know, what in the hell are you writing in that yardage book? Like it's killing me. And so he started talking about marking the grain from different areas of the green, and and I started asking about grain. Well, he grew up in the south, so everything became really, I mean, it was so crystal clear to him, and I think he was probably chuckling at how little I knew about about that part of the world and the game down there. But you know, he took the time to show me a few things. And um, you know, I really prided myself early in my career on my practice rounds and getting ready. And and I remember Paul Eisinger had a quote that's probably one of my favorite quotes that was said about me. He said, Every time I play a practice round with Jim Furick, I feel like I'm getting out prepared. And that that to me is one of the best compliments that I've ever been given in a game of golf. But I'll say this when early in my career, I was getting out prepared by Tom Kite, and I was getting whooped. I mean, I had no idea uh really. In college, I used to make yardage books, and the team would kind of copy my yardage books. You know, no one wanted to go through the time to walk the greens, pace them, and and make a yardage book. And and I just felt it was imperative to play well, and so the team would kind of copy my notes. Um when I got to be a golf professional, we were given good yardage books. I didn't even really know how to use them that well, to be honest with you. So it was something that uh I asked a lot of folks, and Tom was a big help. He doesn't probably doesn't know that, but it was a big help in and helping me at Honda that that year.

Mike Gonzalez 25:27

Well, Jim, you'll probably appreciate this, and Bruce, you'll remember it, but you talk about preparation and you think back to the mid-50s, it's hard to imagine that guys weren't even stepping off yardage back then, right? They weren't they weren't even stepping off yardage. And so Dean Beaman told us about him kind of getting started with that. I think Jack Nicholas actually credited Dean with uh the guy that taught him that hey, that's pretty important to know that from this particular part in the course, uh here's what it takes to cover that bunker, here's what it takes to fly it directly to the pit. And people hadn't been doing that up until then.

Bruce Devlin 26:04

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 26:06

So it's really come a long way, hasn't it, in terms of preparation, what you what you guys are going through today and what you have available to you.

Jim Furyk 26:12

Even yardage books from nineteen ninety-four when I started the tour to now. It's it's scary how you know I've kept some of my old ones, and and it's scary how how great I thought they were, and now I look back and how little was actually in there.

Bruce Devlin 26:28

Yeah, amazing.

Mike Gonzalez 26:31

Talk to us about the decision process you did go through to turn pro. When did you start really thinking about that seriously?

Jim Furyk 26:40

Uh I mean it entered my mind when I when I left high school and was going to college that I was choosing a you know, I was choosing a college. Uh I wanted to get my degree, I wanted to graduate, but I was choosing a college where I felt I can best prepare to become a golf professional and and and play the tour. Now whether that was going to happen or not, I didn't know. But uh, as I said earlier, the the reality hit me when I was going into that that summer before my senior year, that, you know, all right, I get one more year of school and and then it's time to get a job. It's time to, you know, enter the workforce. So um, and at the time my game was I knew it was not ready uh for that next step. So it was a rude awakening and also probably got me very focused on on trying to get to that next level. And uh what's funny, and what's so much different today from when I I left college is you know, they used to tell us that you know your prime is like age 30 to 35. That's when everyone wins their major championships, that's when everyone does their damage. There was no pressure from the age of 22 to 25 to make the tour, or you're done, or your career's over. So although I I I I did see that uh it was important to me that I had to improve at a quick rate because I was competitive, I also kind of knew it was going to be a little bit of a work in progress. That uh, you know, and now they just they expect these kids, and a lot of times it it it you know, when I turned pro, I think Phil Mickelson was the only guy that you know he won at an event, a pro event, uh PJ Tour event while I was in college. He was the only guy that got his PGA tour card from my senior class immediately. Um you had Justin Leonard do it, you had a few guys that could make that jump, but it usually was a two-year, three-year, four-year, five-year process before guys would get their card. And um, and so I I I did feel patient. You know, when you're playing around in golf, if you if you're trying to get the five under as quick as you can, you usually end up five over. And so that's kind of how my career went. I was patient. And and I think basically because I was, uh I made a bunch of birdies early, and and it was a pretty quick ascent to the PJ tour and then to some success on the tour. So uh it was something I always, I guess from the time I was 16, 17, 18 years old, it's something I wanted one to try. You just never know if you're gonna be good enough or prepared to do it.

Bruce Devlin 29:08

So you went through uh through the PJ school in uh '93. You you there were some pretty good players that were there too at that school. Pontavic and Faraday and Strick, you know. I mean, a lot of good players.

Jim Furyk 29:23

We had a nice class. Uh that was my second trip back to tour school. Uh so the first trip, I I got to the finals and had no experience, played very poorly at finals, conditional card, played the what's now the Cornferry tour for a year. Actually, got a win and uh lost in a playoff as well, won a playoff, lost in a playoff. So had a pretty good year, and that win basically guaranteed I had a place to play the next year. So again, allowed me to be patient, allowed me to kind of go through uh some progressions to improve. And then I went back to school uh for the second time, six-round event out in Palm Springs. Uh when I think back on it, uh I thought I had to make a bogey in the fourth round to kind of make the cut on the last toll in the fourth round. And it's a six-round event, but to make the four-round cut, I thought I'd make a bogey. I had about a 12-footer downhill for parr on the last toll, and I kind of coaxed it down there and it it went in. And so I'm like, all right, you know, I'm gonna be safe. I made the cut. And later on that that afternoon, I realized that if that putt didn't go in, I would have missed the cut. So I made the four-round cut on the number. And played pretty solid on the weekend, but uh I made the six-round cut on the number, and I was the first T time off the back nine on the split T uh in the sixth round, first group in, and it was gonna be really tight. I was either gonna make it on the number or miss by one, and just had to hover around the scoreboard for about two and a half hours, waiting for the rest of the field to finish. And at the time top 40 got in, I finished tied for 38th. It's like a six-way tie for 38th. Uh, and then they sent us out in a playoff for some reason. They wanted to have an exact order who was 38 through 44. And so a few of us birdied the first hole, and uh Sean McKeel birdied the second hole, so he was number 38. Uh, and then eventually it was getting dark, and one of the PJ Tour officials kind of like looked over his shoulder and he said, Boys, I'm not coming back tomorrow. Let's figure this out. So we had a chip-off for 39 and 40. I'd beat a guy by the name of Rob beat Rob Bolt for uh in a chip-off, and uh it was Bob Bob Bolt's son.

Bruce Devlin 31:29

Uh, then that's something. I never knew that before. That's a great story.

Jim Furyk 31:34

They called for a playoff, and we all basically had a heart attack, like because we thought we made it. And there's a couple of guys in the bar already having a beer, like celebrating. Oh, no, no, no, no, we're just ordering it. Y'all made it, don't worry.

Mike Gonzalez 31:47

Yeah, let's let's go chip, huh? Um so let's fast forward uh 30 years from when you turn professional. We're here we are today, and you look at how these young kids are transitioning so quickly from college to pros. What's the difference?

Jim Furyk 32:04

Good question. Um I think I think that uh their preparation from the age of twelve to twenty-two or twelve to twenty, the junior golf, the the level so much better, the college golf, the level and the competition so much better. Uh the training techniques, the you know, I I think the tiger effect of really bringing a bunch of good athletes into the sport. Um for a number of different reasons. The younger player today is more prepared at twenty-two to be very competitive on the PJ tour than they were when I came out, say in the early nineties. Um and it's fun to watch. The game is totally changed as well. Um as I said, I think the equipment uh is changed, the technology with track man and foresight and the teaching methods, uh the physical fitness and the training methods, uh golf course design, golf course setup. Uh you know, the PJ Tor sets golf courses up different now than they did in 1994. And it's not even close. And whether whether it was meant to be and they tried to do it, or if it just evolved, it's a different game. And so um I think all those factors lead in, but just to make sure I don't sound like uh an old bitter guy that's 52, and you know, when I was 24, the game was way better. I don't want that to come out. Uh I always liken it to swimming. I swam a little bit until I was eleven years old. Um I know there's fast pools and slow pools, but Olympic pools are Olympic pools, right? Not much changes. Yeah. And water really hasn't changed much over the last, you know, I don't know, billion years. You know, it's it's it's still water. But they swim in a sport where a hundredth of a second is a big deal, or a tenth of a second is like days, they're swimming seconds faster uh over what they were doing 20 years ago in certain sports. The athletes getting bigger, stronger, faster, the training techniques are getting better, um, they're just well more prepared. And you're seeing that same thing in golf as well. There is more depth and more good athletes. Now, Hogan would have been great in any era, and Nicholas would have been great in any era, and Norman Woods would have been great in any era. There's just more of them now, and the depth uh of play is so much greater. And and so, and I think that competition, right? If Jack had you know, Jack had Arnie and Tom, and you know, but if there was ten of those guys, they would have pushed each other even more, if that made sense. And I think that's what you see right now. You're seeing just uh a lot of depth and and uh I love the legends of the game and I love uh that you know we all when I kinda hit my mid-40s, I realized that you know, I played in tournaments that Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicholas played in. I mean I played in uh Bahill that Arnold Palmer played in. And then when you see like a Jordan Spieth come out at you know, age twenty and all of a sudden he takes the world by fire and he wins a bunch of major championships, and you know, I get the I kinda got to bridge a gap between you know someone that's you know approaching their 80s and someone that's 20 years old. So that's like a 60-year-old gap that I gotta kinda got to bridge in the middle, and and really, you know, we all feel blessed that you kind of see that different spectrum.

Mike Gonzalez 35:35

Bruce, you and Jim really didn't overlap at all, did you, in your careers?

Bruce Devlin 35:39

No, no, no. Unfortunately, I uh my only real uh time that I spent with Jim was I I I used to love watching him hit golf balls with his dad there. I mentioned earlier about uh watch I watched him for quite a while out in uh uh in uh Arizona at the TPC course there, but uh uh like I said, he's uh he's he's one of the great players that's uh ever played the game, and his record proves that. And we're we're thrilled to uh to find out how he becomes such a great player.

Mike Gonzalez 36:13

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