Jim Furyk

Lore & Background

Furyk was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania. His ancestry is Czech and Polish on his mother's side and Ukrainian and Hungarian on his father's side. His father, Mike, was an assistant pro at the Edgmont Country Club and later also spent time as a pro at West Chester Golf and Country Club as well as Hidden Springs Golf Course in Horsham, Pennsylvania. His early years were spent in the Pittsburgh suburbs learning the game from his father, who was also head pro at Uniontown Country Club in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Furyk graduated from Manheim Township High School in Lancaster County in 1988, where he played basketball in addition to being a state champion golfer. He played his junior golf at Meadia Heights Golf Club just south of Lancaster city. He played college golf at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he was an All-American twice, and led the Wildcats to their first (and only) NCAA title in 1992.

In Their Own Story

Augusta, April 2003. The air hangs thick with azalea scent and the low hum of a crowd that has been on its feet for three days. Furyk stands over a 14-footer on the 16th, the flagstick trembling in the breeze. Mike McHugh crouches behind him, reading the break, murmuring something only the two of them will ever fully understand. The putt rolls, breaks, and drops with a soft thud. Furyk doesn't celebrate. He never does. He simply adjusts his cap, looks down the line of the 17th, and walks. The scoreboard behind him reads six clear. The Masters is over, and the man with the left-handed swing has done it the way he always does — quietly, precisely, and without ever asking the gallery to believe him first.

Reader's Guide

Furyk turned professional in 1992. He won the Nike Mississippi Gulf Coast Classic on the Nike Tour in 1993. He joined the PGA Tour in 1994 and won at least one tournament each year between 1998 and 2003. His biggest win came on June 15, 2003, when he tied the record for the lowest 72-hole score in U.S. Open history to win his first major championship. In 2010, he won a career-best three tournaments: The Transitions Championship, the Verizon Heritage, and the Tour Championship, earning the FedEx Cup and PGA Tour Player of the Year. He shot a 59 in the second round of the 2013 BMW Championship and a 58 in the final round of the 2016 Travelers Championship, becoming the first PGA Tour pro to card two rounds under 60. He was named the United States Ryder Cup captain for 2018. On the PGA Tour Champions, he won his first two starts in 2020 and won the U.S. Senior Open in 2021.

Did You Know?

• Furyk's caddy from 1999–2024 was Mike 'Fluff' Cowan, who was Tiger Woods' caddy for Woods's first two years as a professional.
• In September 2006 he reached a career high of second in the Official World Golf Ranking.
• Furyk's swing has been described by David Feherty as 'an octopus falling out of a tree' and by Gary McCord as evoking the image of 'a one-armed golfer using an axe to kill a snake in a telephone booth.'
• He joined Arnold Palmer and Bruce Fleisher as the only golfers to win their first two starts on the PGA Tour Champions.