Furyk Remains Competitive, But He Still Can't Get It Rolling

A torrid opening to his golf season gave Jim Furyk indication 2007 could be prolific. He finished in the top six in three of his first four events and had banked nearly $750,000 by mid-February. Not even his start last year, when he finished second on the money list, was that lucrative.

Then a precipitous decline followed and left one of the most consistent golfers on the PGA Tour a bit shaken. Over his next seven starts, Furyk missed two cuts and finished tied for 31st and 35th. His game had deteriorated to the point where he was at risk of not winning an event for the first time in three years.

"I wasn't happy with my game," Furyk said earlier this week. "It's a lot more fun to wake up Sunday morning with a chance than teeing off real early and trying to figure out how quick you can get to the next stop or get home. I want to keep trying to put myself in those positions and give myself some opportunities."

Beginning the final round of the AT&T National seven shots back, Furyk abruptly got himself in contention yesterday with a 32 on the front nine. By the time he finished the 12th hole on Congressional Country Club's Blue Course, he trailed by three shots after missing a seven-footer for birdie.

Erratic putting the rest of the way blunted that charge, and Furyk (1-under-par 69) ended six shots behind winner K.J. Choi.

"In order to win a golf tournament and keep yourself in there, you've got to knock in some putts, especially when you're eight feet and in," Furyk said, "and I wasn't able to do that on the back nine. Some of them were really good putts that didn't go in, but I hit three really bad putts on the back nine that I'd love to have over."

No. 16 was one of those. After placing his tee shot on the 579-yard par 5 in the center of the fairway, Furyk hit his second shot to 97 yards and used a wedge on his approach. The ball stopped 11 feet from the hole, and Furyk had the opening he wanted to negate a bogey 5 at No. 14.

Furyk missed the putt by a hair and had to settle for par on a hole that played the fourth easiest during the tournament.

Furyk's putting foibles continued at 17, where his approach on the 437-yard par 4 settled on the back fringe. He chipped to six feet but failed to convert that par putt. Furyk's second bogey over four holes all but sunk him for the tournament.

"I putted poorly. That's the best I can say," said Furyk, who did not have a one-putt on the back nine. "I think the longest putt I made on the back nine was the four-footer for par, or five-footer for par, on 18."

A tie for third may be small consolation for the third-ranked player in the world, who has won 12 times on the PGA Tour. But the 2003 U.S. Open champion has his game sorted out these days thanks to his admitted hard work on the practice range.

By shooting 3-under 277 at the AT&T, Furyk secured his third straight top-five finish. He also has two runner-ups over his past five events, including a tie for second at the U.S. Open at Oakmont.

"I really hit the ball well today and really felt like I had an opportunity to shoot a low number and only got 1 under out of it," said Furyk, who ended the tournament first in driving accuracy (82.14 percent). "But I showed a lot of good signs out there, and if I had knocked in couple putts on the back nine and got some momentum going, I really probably could have come close to scaring the leaders. But as it was, I didn't."