U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP MEDIA DAY

May 10, 2004

Jim Furyk

JIM FURYK: Well, yeah, I've gotten introduced that way. It was probably the most special for me at Westchester Country Club the week after the U.S. Open last year. I definitely cracked a big smile on the 10th tee on Thursday. It's a wonderful feeling. Yeah, I'm missing the early part of the year. I had about, probably, 15 starts after the U.S. Open last year, and I think that the the most special time would be on Thursday at the U.S. Open this year at Shinnecock. I'm still hoping to make that start. It doesn't look like that's going to be possible, and if not, I'll miss it. But, you know what, I still have my name on that trophy. I got it engraved and no one is going to take it off, so I'm proud of that.

JIM FURYK: Yeah, my surgeon is from New York, in Manhattan, at the Hospital for Special Surgery, Dr. Andrew Weiland. We talk on a weekly basis. I visited him last Tuesday up there in New York just to check in, see how my wrist was feeling, or at least put in words for him and let him take a look and just talk basically face to face and try to set up a schedule for getting ready for these next few months and try to get back to playing golf. Right now, he has me chipping and putting at home since last Wednesday and feels pretty good, but it looks like that it's going to be very difficult to get ready and be playing by the time the U.S. Open comes around. If so, if I am playing, it probably will be just starting. It might be just giving the go-ahead at about that time. It doesn't like like unless something fantastic would happen, it doesn't like I'm going to be ready to play the U.S. Open or playing golf at that time. I'm still hoping, but I was given -- before surgery, I was given three to six months for recovery. That three months to date is, I think, Wednesday of the FBR, the week after the U.S. Open, and that was given as my best case scenario; so my best case was after the U.S. Open. I have to keep that in mind. I have to think that if I were ready even in like a four-month span, I would still be doing quite well. I have to always remember that six months is still realistic. My rehab is going very, very well. I'm on schedule. But I still have yet to put that much stress or that much force on it like would you put in a golf swing. I'm staying very patient. I want my wrist to heal, and I'm very open minded. I'm having a very good time at home. I think everyone thinks that I'm going to die not playing golf, and I kind of felt that way probably before the surgery. But it's opened my eyes a little bit. I've gotten to spend a lot of time with my family and my kids. I'm still excited about getting back and playing golf, I miss it, but there's a lot of wonderful things at home I'm getting to see. I'm looking forward to getting back to golf and the U.S. Open, but in my heart, I know it's a very small percentage and probably won't be ready. I've accepted that fact and moved on, and when I come back out there, I want to be ready to go and 100% healthy and not risk re-injuring my wrist. I want it to be 100% healthy and be ready to go so I can resume my career on the PGA TOUR.

JIM FURYK: Well, I really liked it. It's a long time ago. I came back the year after the U.S. Open in '96. The U.S. Open was there in '95; is that correct?

JIM FURYK: I went back in the summer of 1996 during Westchester to play the golf course. I was starting to feel like Shinnecock is my kryptonite or something. The only one I didn't qualify for or wasn't exempt for was the 1995 U.S. Open. That's the only one I've missed in my ten-year career; this is my 11th year now, and I think this will be the only one I'll miss again. I've heard such wonderful comments about the course from a lot of the competitors. A lot of players are putting it on their Top-10 list, Top-5 list as one of my favorite courses in the word. I didn't get to see it in tournament shape. The fairways were much wider than would you have seen in the U.S. Open and the rough wasn't near as high and it was still an extremely, extremely difficult test. I could still see the cut line when I played it. The grasses -- even though the fairways were wider, the outside of the fairways were in different colors, so I could see where the rough lines were previously. I know it's going to be an extremely difficult test. I know I did catch about the last -- 15 minutes before I came on, I caught a lot of the press conference and I could see a wish list of wind, wind; if the wind will hold up, it will be a difficult test. I think it will be a difficult test without the wind, but after last year, I could see how in setting up the golf course, Tom is excited.

JIM FURYK: Well, I don't watch a lot of golf. I think the little TV time that I had for two or three hours a day on Thursday and Friday at THE PLAYERS Championship is definitely more golf than I watched in about the last four years. If I remember -- I was a little disappointed, like last night, it was about 6:30 when I remembered to turn the TV on and just happened to see that Joey had won in a playoff. I was happy for him. I'm friendly with him. He's a wonderful person and I was happy to see him win after quite a few years of not. If I remember on Sunday evenings, I like to see the last 30 minutes, kind of see it all unfold. I know quite a few other athletes in other sports, it seems likes, they tend to gravitate towards golf. I've been at an ex-football player's house on Sunday and the football might be on TV, but they are not paying much attention to it. It's what I do for a living. Right now, I think it would be more tasing myself or tempting myself more than anything. I never really watched a lot of golf on my weeks off. I tried to get away from it. One thing I promise when I come back, I'll definitely be refreshed and ready to go. I'll be chomping at the bit and I will want a lot of golf in my blood at that point, and I haven't had it. And I think, yeah it would be teasing myself if I watched too much golf if I didn't stay away from it as much as I do.

JIM FURYK: I hadn't thought of it. Last year, I think I focused a lot on really -- I was a little nervous at first. Maybe it was going to be the ultimate goal, something I was striving for in my career. I think I was trying, wondering, hey, if this was going to be a letdown mentally, am I not going to work as hard, am I just going to sit back and enjoy that moment a little bit too much. I definitely enjoyed it and I think I really focused on, hey, I've got a shot possibly maybe to win Player of the Year. I'm having such a good year now, trying to win a bunch of events while the is good. I think turning around and winning four or five events after the U.S. Open with the Buick up there and Flint, I knew I really worked hard. I really carried it through the year, and even at the Grand Slam late in the year, I played pretty well and won that. So I think I was more focused on continuing to play well throughout the rest of the year and keeping my nose to the grindstone. It would have been something probably that would have struck me through the February, March, April months of this year. And I have a little bit -- I've won other than that U.S. Open, that was my ninth victory; and eight victories before that where I had to go back and try to defend; and once I did it successfully at Las Vegas. Obviously, the U.S. Open with the pressure, all the media attention, the focus, it being a major championship, it would have been a lot different story. It's very difficult. I'm going to say, Curtis Strange -- I think Curtis in '88, '89 was the last one that I can remember and what a fantastic feat. It would have been something I would have really enjoyed and I would have enjoyed being there Thursday morning. I don't want to count it out the way I'm speaking, but I know in my heart it's going to be very difficult. Now, if I were to play, I obviously would not be in perfect form and definitely would not be in the shape or form I was in coming to the tournament last year. That would have been very difficult.

JIM FURYK: Well, I don't know that, actually. I think time will tell, and I think I have to be realistic when I come back that it's not -- if I miss -- basically I've only played two events the first two weeks in January since December 4, when the Grand Slam ended. It's going to be a lot of time off. I know mentally I'll be in a good frame of mind. I know I'm going to be rusty, both mentally and physically on the golf course. It's going to take a little time. It's going to take some time to get back. I think I have already set my mind in motion that I have to be patient and not push too hard. You know, I've had a couple of months off before when I hurt my right wrist, my other wrist, back before I believe it was 2000 Mercedes. I came back and won that tournament playing very little golf in between and a little bit surprised myself that I had the same frame of mind. I may come back strong and playing well. I may come back very rusty and not playing as well. And keep working hard, keep trying, keep an open mind and it will come back, it's just a matter of how long that will take.

JIM FURYK: Well, the exact injury was that I had a tear in my left wrist in the TFC, which is the triangular fibral cartilage. It was a very similar injury to what I had in my right wrist. I tore the same cartilage in my right wrist three years ago. That was different, I had fallen in a parking lot; it was an acute injury. This was something that started bothering me -- it's bothered me throughout my career at different times, but I kind of went back to last summer at the British Open. Because of the firm ground we practice off of, we hit off of over there, I thought I was feeling a little pain in my left wrist. It was keeping me from practicing as much as I would like to, and I went a few weeks in Flint, felt great, won that tournament. But throughout the year, the injuries started hurting more often and it started coming back more often. By the time I got into early December at the Grand Slam, I was feeling quite a bit of discomfort. I had it checked out in December at home, and tried to rest it quite a bit, tried to take some time off, went back out a month later, played the two events out in Hawaii, the pain came back, was even a little bit worse. I started kind of getting some different opinions from very respected surgeons around the country. I received a cortisone shot, got some more rest, trying to take a conservative approach and it just wasn't responding to the rest. Every time I came back, the pain was just as great or greater, and it was happening quicker and that's when surgery become a route. Surgery was definitely not something I was looking forward to and was definitely a shock for me to hear the first time. I wanted to get a few opinions. Everybody verbatim said the same thing; that I needed surgery to repair the cartilage, and once I got it set in my mind, took a couple days -- it took a weekend, pretty much left New York on a Friday, went back Monday for the surgery and went back in a clear mind and an open mind knowing it was going to be a three-to six-month process and it was what needed to be done. When my surgeon got in there and actually took a look, arthroscopic surgery, when he got in there and took a look, he said I could have rested it for ten years, but to play golf, it had to be done and needed to be done. He was afraid he was going to get in there and it was going to be was something that maybe he couldn't fix, but he got in there and he could see the injury and he took some of the material out of there and cleaned out the area, and now it's just a matter of healing time and getting stronger. The healing process is a six to eight-week process. It's been almost seven weeks since my surgery. It's been seven weeks actually today since my surgery. The healing process is pretty much relatively complete. We are working now on the strengthening process and waiting for that pain to go away; that if I put a lot of pressure on the wrist, it's going to hurt right now. So we're waiting to get stronger and, I guess the initial healing process is done, we're waiting for it to heal even more.

JIM FURYK: The initial surgery I believe was March 22nd. I think that's a Monday. I'm pretty positive the 22nd was a Monday and that was the day. As far as going sooner, I think that most of the surgeons I spoke with might have said I had a tear, the best we could see on the MRI that I had a tear to the TFC, and very similar location to what I had in my right wrist three years ago; that after two months, a month or six weeks, two months of rest and a cortisone shot, it held, it felt fine and allowed me to play golf. Obviously a little bit more pressure on my left wrist than my right in the golf swing because I'm right-handed, but that left wrist is the lead. There's more pressure put on it. I think the right route there was to stay conservative. There's no need to go in there and have surgery if I didn't need it. I needed to give it the proper rest and the proper time and then try to come back. I started -- that told me I needed to go to surgery. Took a week to do that and have the surgery. And I think that as far as the process, maybe it could have been handled a week or two earlier, but I don't think so. I think I needed to prove to myself first that, give it some rest, if that would work or it would not. I proved to myself that it would not work and the surgeon said it would not work. It was done, and it seems like it was drawn out over maybe a three-month period, but it was done in a fairly quick fashion.

JIM FURYK: Will I attend the U.S. Open? That's something I haven't really thought about yet. I've been asked a little bit from a TV standpoint. I did some work with ESPN at THE PLAYERS Championship and I've been asked possibly about doing that again. I haven't spoken to the USGA about possibly coming back and I don't know where I'll be at that time. If it were a matter of I'm almost playing golf and I'm ready to go, close to being ready to go but not for the U.S. Open, maybe I'd want to stay home and work on my rehab and work on my game and work on getting back sooner, instead of flying up to New York and possibly taking a week off and setting myself back a week. Maybe I would want to come up for a few days, I'm not exactly sure. It's something that I've thought about some, but not a lot because I don't know whether I'll be playing or not. I know there's still a slight chance, it's a small chance, but I'm kind of keeping my options open and really one day at a time now, trying to get healthier and trying to work on my wrist and the rehabilitation and trying to get stronger.

JIM FURYK: I don't know. I've never -- even growing up in Pennsylvania, I've never had this much time away from golf. I'm not exactly sure. I know it's going to be a little bit, trying to get my rhythm back and my balance back in my golf swing. Even trying to play a little bit of golf and getting used hitting some different shots, I like to work the ball, hit some knock-downs, really just get my mind into playing shape, reading the material, uphill, downhill, where the wind is coming from, if the green is firm and where I want to land the ball, stuff that we do usually pretty much with ease, we can get all that done in 45 seconds and hit the ball. It comes naturally if you're playing week-in, week-out. It's going to take a little time to get back in the flow of things. As soon as I'm 100% healthy, I'm going to try to get back out on TOUR. I'm looking forward to getting back. But I don't know how long it's going to take me to really get my game in shape.

JIM FURYK: One, I wouldn't let the length be a major issue. I think in a place like Bethpage, that golf course definitely took -- with its length and the way it was set up, that golf course took quite a few people out of play. More so than I've probably ever seen in a lot of setups just because of how much power that golf course requires. Of course, with Shinnecock, even though it's short, when you still talk about we're trying to get the greens as firm as they can and fast as they can, it still favors the guy that can hit it hard. If you can hit a 1-iron and I'm hitting a driver, that's a big advantage. And if you can hit an 8-iron where I have to hit a 6-iron, that's a big advantage because you can hit the ball high, spin it into the greens, and that's going to come into play on firm and fast greens. The wind can be a big factor. I think that Shinnecock the key is about putting the ball in play, leaving yourself an opportunity around the greens. I don't want to be a prognosticator, I was asked that a lot in this very same studio about who was going to win the Masters and I said a guy like Mike Weir is probably a very good candidate. I think you have to take a look at the guys that are playing well right now. Phil is playing so well, Vijay is playing so well. I'm going to take the obvious answer is and look the the guys who are in the Top 5 on the Money List and playing consistently all year and then pick a guy out like Mike Weir, who may have a game where he hits the ball relatively flat, relatively low trajectory in the wind. So if the wind blows real hard, hits the ball very straight and has an extremely underrated short game, his short game is probably the best on TOUR, I think there's a good choice, too.

JIM FURYK: Yeah, I think that I had some relatively good success in U.S. Opens through the mid to late 90s. I played real well at Oakland hills in '96, at Congressional in '97, relatively solid at the Olympic Club., And then through -- I was in good shape at Southern Hills and blew up in the last round. Pebble Beach, I was struggling with my game. But I think definitely the U.S. Open, the way the golf -- well, they are won on incredible golf courses. They are picking the cream of the crop around the country. They are setting up very difficult and setup in testing your patience. You're not always to get the good bounce, the good break. You might not always think it's the fairest setup. And you hear guys complaining, you hear guys upset about the golf course at times, but I think I let probably that bother me for a couple of years. Just my mind frame, it was my fault. It fault my mind frame wasn't as good as it had to be to go in there and contend at the U.S. Open. I made up my mind that U.S. Open that Pebble Beach and Southern Hills had gotten the best of me, and last year, I didn't let that happen. I was having a great tournament, I had not won a golf tournament yet, even though I had some opportunities. I went in there really thinking about winning that golf tournament and not letting anything get in the way. I was tested very early. I went out and played a very poor first nine holes. I think I hit the ball -- made a very good up-and-down for bogey on my ninth hole, which was No. 18, on my first nine out to shoot 38 and didn't let that bother me. I believe I made the turn and I believe I shot 31 on the front side. That nine holes probably was as important as any in the tournament because I could have got down on myself. I really scrapped it out. I got the ball up-and-down when I needed to, and really probably turned what could have been a 40, 41 into a 38 and then it just kind of slowly came around. I got stronger and stronger as the front nine went on and made a whole bunch of birdies. All of a sudden, I was in the Top-10 or 15 in a golf tournament and got myself in great position. It was really an attitude that I was going to go in there that I had and I kept to my word. That was a lot of it. The U.S. Open has always been a test and it tests a lot of parts to your game. You have to be very precise driving the ball you have to hit crisp iron shots, your short game has to be very good, but mentally it's also a test. The golf course is set up very, very difficult and you have to be ready for that, and if you let it bother you in any way mentally, it's going to affect other parts of your game and you're not going to be able to compete.

JIM FURYK: Well, definitely from a physical standpoint, I think all parts of your game have to be very solid. Last year, I drove the ball very well. I was in the top two in that category. I hit my irons very well, I was in the top two in that category. I obviously putted very well because I made a lot of birdies. I think physically my game was in great shape. Mentally as we talked about, I put myself in pretty good shape and stayed very patient during the week. So I think that all parts of your game you need to persevere throughout the week. 72 holes is a long time. You're going to have your peaks and your valleys, and you have to persevere through those four days. As far as what it means to me, I think, you know in my professional career as a golfer, obviously, it was my crowning moment and a pinnacle for me. It's a very proud moment because I had my whole family there. And just something that I had always dreamed of since I was a kid. So I just -- basically a dream come true.

JIM FURYK: Small sliver.

JIM FURYK: No. I think that where I was getting my pain in my swing was basically from impact through the ball, and my release and the way I hit the golf ball isn't any different than anyone else. I go about it a little bit differently in that I take the club back high and to the outside. Obviously I move the club back on plane and I might have a little bit more -- probably a little bit more leg action than most throughout the swing. I'm kind of driving to get my hips out of the way. SSomething that's just natural. As far as what's hurting my hand from impact, through my release to contact of the golf ball, cannot be that much different anyone else. The physics of the golf swing say the club face has to be relatively swear and the path of the club has to be relatively straight or you can't hit the golf ball down the line. I don't really think that from impact through the ball that my swing is much different from anyone else's. That's exactly where I was getting my pain. But time will tell. I could be wrong there, but I don't think that -- I don't think that my swing has caused any different swing has caused any of the surgery. I just think it's been a lot of years of playing golf, and I'm a hard worker and beat a lot of golf balls. I guess things break down at time. I played through it probably a little too much last year. I probably should have given it a little bit more rest but maybe I just -- I think eventually down the road, even if I had rested more last year, eventually down the road, it's probably going to happen. I hope that's not the case. I don't think it's going to be the case, but we'll see. My golf swing is mine, it's my own, I've had it my entire career, and I would take -- I would take five more good years with my swing than 20 years with someone else's because that's all I know, that's how I play golf. I'm never going to be able to tear it apart and start over again and put a new golf swing into play. If that's the case, maybe I'll be joining you guys soon in the media booth somewhere.

JIM FURYK: I tell you, it was a unique look at things. It's interesting because when you see shots on TV, they don't really show the guys flaring it off in the woods and the guys shooting 82. You're seeing all the leaders. You're seeing all the good shots. So for two or three hours, I felt like I was watching a highlight film most of the time. I just got tired of seeing the ball go in the hole everywhere. I wanted to see someone hit a bad shot. I was starting to feel a little less than good.

JIM FURYK: I watched the Masters. There's no doubt. I've watched the Masters since I was a kid. I wouldn't miss that one. I won't say I sat through the entire telecast on Saturday and Sunday, but I'm very aware of what happened on the golf course and what went on. I think I, like everyone else, was a little surprised at how happy-go-lucky Phil was coming down the back side and bouncing around. The only time I ever saw him get a real stern look on his face was before his second shot on 18. He looked like he buckled down a little bit and just kind of had a little bit of a scowl and a little bit of a tight look on his face. He hit a great iron shot right behind the hole. I was a little surprised -- I don't smile that much on the golf course. I was having fun last year, but I think I was having fun because I was winning and I was so far out ahead. I'm known for not really smiling and not showing a lot of emotion on the golf course. Phil was definitely very much in control of himself and enjoying his day and had a smile on his face the whole day. It was a tough tournament to call. You had two of the greatest players in the world, Ernie and Phil coming down the stretch, and not knowing who was going to win. It basically boiled to Ernie putt didn't go in on 18 and Phil's did. They are both friends. I'm real happy for Phil, it's been long overdue.

JIM FURYK: Well, they didn't hurt it in the middle the fairway, did they? (Laughter.) I'm just kidding. I think that if I were ready to play, I would play, whether -- if I hit a shot in the high rough and I'm afraid of going at it with my wrist, I'm probably not ready to play at that point. I think that you get in those situations, I could probably play the tournament, and every time I hit it in the high rough, I could take a sand wedge out and beat it back in the fairway. You probably get into those situations hurting yourself when you're trying to hit a shot that probably isn't possible or you're not capable of, when you're trying to stretch an 8-iron or 7-iron or 6-iron. You're probably trying to hit a shot that you shouldn't be able to and shouldn't be doing and probably forced it a little bit and put a little too much force into that shot. The rough grabs your club and does some strange things to your hands and your wrist and your elbows. I think that if I were afraid of that being the case, then in my mind I wouldn't be ready to play yet; and therefore, I wouldn't be in the tournament anyway.

JIM FURYK: I talked to him tournament week last week on Wednesday. He said he was having a good time. I had known from back around THE PLAYERS Championship that he was going to caddie during the week of Wachovia which was last week of Kingsmill for Michelle. She had given him a call. He lives not too far away. He lives up in the D.C. area, not too far hard to get down to Williamsburg from there. He's been kind of bouncing around. He's had a job here and there. He's staying in it a little bit. Faxon gave him a last minute call at the Masters. He's worked a little bit for a couple of guys on TOUR this year; Peter Jacobsen when he had to have surgery, Dan Olsen for a little bit, Fax at the Masters. He's kept himself working a little bit here and there. But I'm on the shelf, I'm hurt, and he's an independent contractor; he needs to go out there and get some work and find a job. He made a lot of money last year. Make he can rest back on that.

JIM FURYK: I would look forward to that. Thanks very much guys, and gals.