PITTSFORD, N.Y. - Jim Furyk has experienced his share of disappointments since his only major victory at the 2003 U.S. Open. And even though he came up short once again Sunday at the PGA Championship, Furyk rather enjoyed himself at Oak Hill Country Club.
“I had an absolute blast,” Furyk said after posting his fourth runner-up finish in a major, winding up 2 strokes behind champion Jason Dufner.
Furyk, 43, finished in the top 10 in a major for the 20th time. He has come close to victories in the U.S. Open in 2006, 2007 and 2012, as well as the 2006 and 2008 British Open, but left knowing nothing but frustration.
He felt particular despair in the 2012 Open, which he led late on the back nine of the final round. He lost the lead with a bogey on the par-5 16th at the Olympic Club. Furyk also had some other heartache in 2012, including a Ryder Cup singles loss to Sergio Garcia, and decided to tweak his attitude.
“I felt like I lost the tournament,” he said of the Open. “I felt like it was my tournament to win and I wasn’t able to do it. Today I felt like I got beat. I didn’t beat myself, I don’t think.
“If I continued down the same road with the attitude I had 10 years ago, it wasn’t as much fun as it needed to be, I just didn’t want to be that way anymore. So I’ve kind of made a commitment this year to start trying to enjoy myself and have a better time on the golf course.”
Furyk said he tried to soak in Sunday’s trip around Oak Hill, watching the crowd and enjoying the cheering.
Furyk, who is winless since capturing the 2010 Tour Championship, entered the round leading Dufner by a stroke, but Dufner took the lead with birdies on the fourth, fifth and eighth holes. Furyk’s bogey at No. 9 put him 2 shots behind and he was unable to make a dent in the deficit from there.
He stayed in the hunt with a birdie at the 16th hole but bogeyed Nos. 17 and 18. The last bogey gave Furyk a 71 and a final score of 8-under 272.
But he won’t let the result consume him as he might have in the past.
“I’m not really having a hard time with the way I played,” he said. “I think my attitude and my idea going out today, I was going to have a good time. I was going to have fun and I was going to basically play my heart out, and I did.
“But I also have a lot of respect for the way Jason played and how well he struck the ball. I don’t know if it makes anything easy or less easy, but I don’t look at it as I lost the golf tournament. I look at it as I got beat by somebody that played better today.”
Furyk, who missed the cut at both the U.S. Open at Merion and at the British Open, said he has felt re-energized since returning from Scotland, with two top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour and a near-miss Sunday.
Sports, Pages 18 on 08/12/2013