Furyk returns to scene of last win

Tuesday, Oct. 12, 1999 | 11:39 a.m.

If Jim Furyk is looking to turn a good year into a great year, he has come to the right place.

Furyk returns to Las Vegas this week as the defending champion of the Las Vegas Invitational -- a tournament in which he has picked up two of his three career wins.

It was in Las Vegas a year ago that Furyk, who sports the most unorthodox swing on the PGA Tour, earned his last victory. It also capped his best season on tour, in which he had a win and 12 top-10 finishes and finished a career-high third on the money list.

The 29-year-old Pennsylvania native comes into this week's $2.5 million LVI with no wins this season, seven top-10 showings and ranked 24th on the official money list.

"I think this year, to date, hasn't been as good as last year," Furyk said. "Last year was a phenomenal year and I played really well and very consistently. This year has been a good, solid year and I've had a lot of 14th-place finishes.

"I finished (17th) at The Players Championship, 14th at the Masters, 17th at the U.S. Open, 10th at the British and eighth at the PGA -- all real good, solid tournaments, but nothing breaking through."

In other words, no wins.

"Obviously, we're all looking to win golf tournaments," he added, "but it has been a good, solid year -- I think I'd be arrogant if I said it wasn't, but I want to break through and win a tournament. If I won once or twice ... I could turn it into a really, really good year. So far, it's solid."

Furyk said he can't pinpoint a reason for the difference between this year and last, although he has tinkered with his outside-in swing and tried out some new equipment this year.

It has been, he said, a learning experience.

"I haven't changed my swing like people have said, but I have worked on my ball flight a little bit," Furyk said. "At times, I have been trying to work the ball a little bit more from right to left and left to right, kind of just testing a lot of things out.

"I also have some new equipment now that has helped my game and allowed me to do so much more with the ball than I could before. It's just kind of got me feeling my way around, actually seeing what my limits are and what I can and can't do. Really, it has just been kind of a year of learning for me, trying to improve my game and trying to get better."

Pared to the basics, Furyk said he hasn't been able to put together all the facets of his game at the same time as often as he did last season.

"My game has come around -- it is getting better -- but I've still got a way to go," he said. "At the British Open, my short game wasn't that great. At (the PGA Championship), my short game was great but I didn't make enough putts. At the U.S. Open, I didn't really like the way I was striking the ball.

"There are 20 different parts of the game and they all have to click and one of them seems to be off once in a while."

But there have been glimmers of hope this year for Furyk. He opened the season with a ninth-place finish at the Mercedes Championships, then came back three weeks later and placed sixth at the Phoenix Open.

He came closest to a win in late April at the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic, where he finished second, two shots behind winner Jesper Parnevik.

Furyk went through a stretch of six tournaments following Greensboro where he failed to crack the top 10, but has been playing strong as of late. He scored a 10th-place tie at the British Open and followed that with three consecutive top-10 showings before struggling to a 37th-place tie at the Bell Canadian Open two weeks before the Ryder Cup matches.

At the Ryder Cup, Furyk had been shut out in his until he defeated Europe's Sergio Garcia, 4 and 3, during the U.S. team's improbable comeback on Sunday.

Furyk hopes to ride that momentum into the Las Vegas Invitational, which he calls one of his favorite stops on tour.

"I like coming here, I like playing here," he said. "The weather is perfect (this) time of year; it's great to come out here and have some 90-degree weather at times. There's not much wind, the courses all are in good shape ... and that's why you see a lot of low scores."

Ah, yes, the low scores. With an average winning score of 25 under par this decade, the LVI favors a player who can go low consistently.

Although he is not known as that type of player, Furyk has shown the ability to tame the three LVI courses in his two wins here. In 1995, Furyk won with a 28-under-par 331 and last year, his 25 under par total was one shot better than Billy Mayfair.

Furyk said one of the keys to scoring that low is not to think about it before the tournament begins.

"If you think about that on Wednesday, it kind of blows your mind because you think, 'I've got to shoot 5 or 6 under everyday for five days,' " he said. "That's a feat in itself. If you think of it that way on Wednesday, you'll probably never do it. If you just go out there and stay patient and not worry about it, you might have a chance."

Furyk shook his head when he talked about the 1995 tournament and playing the three courses in 28 under par.

"I think more people think of my game as playing solidly in the U.S. Open, when even-par is a good score," he said. "People think of my game as that I can grind it out and play on a real good, hard golf course and hit the ball straight and keep it in play. I don't think many people think of me in the style of going out there and shooting 66 every day and firing numbers like that.

"It's not that I surprised myself ... it's just amazing that (anyone can do it). Twenty under is a lot -- that's a lot under par."

In addition to his two wins here, Furyk also had a fifth-place tie in the LVI in his rookie year on tour, in 1994. With memories like those, it is easy to see why Furyk is looking forward to this week.

"It's good to look back on those memories, it does give me confidence," he said. 'I think I keep those memories so I know that when I come here, if I'm playing well, I can produce a score that can win this tournament."