Columnist Dean Juipe: Furyk, LV strengthen their bond

Dean Juipe

Monday, Oct. 18, 1999 | 10:03 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@vegas.com or 259-4084.

Lots of people make an annual visit to Las Vegas.

No one, however, wins money here as consistently as Jim Furyk.

And while that fact would ordinarily lead to Furyk being placed in the casino industry's famed "Black Book" for outlawed cheaters and suspicious characters, the Florida resident comes by his money honestly. He earns it an old-fashioned way: On the golf course, dominating the high-stakes Las Vegas Invitational.

He did it again Sunday at the TPC at Summerlin, collecting three consecutive birdies during a back-nine rush that resulted in his hoisting the winner's trophy for a second consecutive year and a third time in five.

Even when he doesn't win he's a threat, tying for 5th, 19th and 22nd in his other Vegas stopovers. This guy doesn't need a comped room as badly as he does his own private vault, as he's averaging $195,000 every time he drops in.

Teamed with the only other player in the field making a stab at the championship, Furyk and Jonathan Kaye played in a professional silence that proved fortuitous for each. But in the end it was Furyk in the role of executioner, completing a bogey-free round with birdies at Nos. 14, 15 and 16 to break what had been a momentary tie.

Kaye, his girlfriend carrying his collegiate-like, double-strapped, kick-stand-accessorized bag, won over the more raucous members of their gallery, yet Furyk proved indefatigable on a sunny and pleasant afternoon that was nothing at all like the day that preceded it. But Furyk plays well here no matter the conditions or who's carrying his bag.

These days it's Mike "Fluff" Cowan, and he compensated for Furyk's introspective ways by talking at every opportunity. Made famous by caddying for Tiger Woods until earlier this year when he was fired, Cowan -- seemingly reassuring Furyk before every shot -- was part therapist and part comrade in coaxing Furyk to his first win of '99 and fourth of his pro career.

"Mr. Las Vegas," as Furyk is soon to be known, may not have had a magical moment per se in his final-round 66, yet he has to point to the par-3 14th hole as the key. Tied with the longer-hitting Kaye at the time, Furyk missed the tightly placed pin to the right and was left with a putt from the fringe of maybe 15 feet. Asking Cowan to remove the pin and clearly going for it, Furyk put the slow roller in the middle of the cup and then watched as Kaye settled for par.

Both men birdied No. 15 and Furyk got up and down for a birdie at No. 16 that left him two ahead and contemplating how to spend the $450,000 that would soon be coming his way.

Really, though, this tournament's outcome may have hinged on what happened to Kaye at No. 12. Having rallied to tie Furyk, who led by three shots at the beginning of the day, Kaye pushed his drive to the right and the ball did what golf balls like to do: It stymied itself behind a thin tree.

Kaye pitched out but bogeyed the hole, and even though he once again pulled even with Furyk at No. 13 it was similar to a basketball team exhausting its energy supply (and luck) in closing a 20-point deficit to two, only to relapse and fall inescapably behind.

Admirable as he played, Kaye was merely a supporting act for the widely acclaimed "Jim Furyk Show."

It's an annual event that habitually plays to rave reviews and leaves its star the recipient of applause and a king-sized check.