In September 2006 he reached a career high of second in the Official World Golf Ranking.[3] He ranked in the top-10 for over 430 weeks between 1999 and 2015.[4][5]
Early life
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.[6][7] 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. 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, Fayette County.[8]
In 2004, he only played in fourteen events after missing three months due to surgery to repair cartilage damage in his wrist; he missed six cuts and his highest finish was T6, which caused him to fall out of the top hundred on the money list. He returned to good form in 2005 and regained his top ten ranking, winning a PGA Tour event in that year and two in 2006. In the 2006 season, he finished a career-high second on the money list and won the Vardon Trophy for the first time. He had 13 top-10 finishes, including nine top-3s, four second-place finishes, and two victories.[11][12]
Since 2012, Furyk has come close on several occasions to winning more titles. At the 2012 U.S. Open, Furyk led after 54 holes and was still the leader deep into the final day, before snap hooking his drive into the trees at the 16th which led to a bogey and was followed by another at the 18th. He finished in a tie for fourth, two strokes behind Webb Simpson. At the 2012 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, Furyk led after the first three rounds and looked set to win the championship as he held a one-stroke lead going into the final hole, but a double-bogey cost him the title to Keegan Bradley.[16]
At the 2013 PGA Championship, Furyk led by one stroke going into the final day over Jason Dufner, but this time his lead was overturned on the front nine and he was unable to reduce the deficit as Dufner won by two strokes. Furyk's caddy since 1999 has been Mike "Fluff" Cowan, who was Tiger Woods' caddy for Woods's first two years as a professional.[17]
In July 2014, Furyk held the 54-hole lead at the RBC Canadian Open, with a three stroke advantage over his nearest competitor Tim Clark. However Clark produced five birdies in his last eight holes to claim the title, after Furyk missed a 12 footer on the 18th green to force a playoff. The three shot margin was the largest 54-hole lead Furyk has ever lost in his tour career.[citation needed]
In February 2015, Furyk held a one shot lead at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am going into the final round, but shot a two over round of 74 to finish six strokes behind Brandt Snedeker. Furyk's round was the worst of any player to finish within the top 50 on the final day. Since Furyk's last victory at The Tour Championship in 2010, he is 0-for-9 with a lead/co-lead after 54 holes.[19] On April 19, 2015, Furyk ended the long slump when he defeated Kevin Kisner with birdie on the second playoff hole at the RBC Heritage. The victory was his second at the event and his 17th victory on the PGA Tour.
In 2015, at the BMW Championship, Furyk withdrew with a wrist injury. This was his first withdrawal since 1995, it also came at the same course he had shot a 59 two years before.[20] Furyk qualified for the 2015 Presidents Cup team but could not play due to the same injury and instead became an assistant captain. J. B. Holmes replaced him on the team.[21]
Furyk missed the early part of the 2016 season after under-going wrist surgery. This caused him to miss the 2016 Masters Tournament and brought to end a run of 47 consecutive major championship appearances. In June 2016, at the 2016 U.S. Open, Furyk finished in a tie for second, three shots behind Dustin Johnson at one under par. He shot a four-under round of 66 in the final round to vault up the leaderboard. This was the third time during his career Furyk had been runner-up at the U.S. Open.
On January 11, 2017, Furyk was named as the United States Ryder Cup captain for 2018.[24] At the 2018 Ryder Cup, the U.S. lost to the Europe team, 17 1/2 to 10 1/2 at Le Golf National outside of Paris, France. Following the matches, Furyk was subject to criticism from Masters champion Patrick Reed. Reed criticized Furyk's manner of making pairings and, more specifically, his decision to break up the previously successful Reed-Jordan Spieth pairing.[25]
Swing
As Mike Furyk describes in a Golf Digest issue in 2001, Jim Furyk's hips "underturn" during the backswing and "overturn" coming down. On the downswing, he draws the club in a large arc behind his body (viewing from his right hand side), then pastes his elbow against his right hip at impact. David Feherty described Furyk's swing as "an octopus falling out of a tree".[26]Gary McCord said that it evokes the image of "a one-armed golfer using an axe to kill a snake in a telephone booth."[27][28]
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
NT = No tournament
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.
^"Players who have reached the Top Ten in the Official World Golf Ranking since 1986". European Tour Official Guide 09 (38th ed.). PGA European Tour. 2009. p. 558.
United States
Billy Mayfair
Rory Sabbatini
Stephen Leaney
Vijay Singh
K. J. Choi
Brian Davis
Sergio García, 
Bernhard Langer, 
