THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 23, 2000

Jim Furyk

JIM FURYK: Obviously a tough day. I am not sure exactly what the conditions were like in the morning. Sounds like the scores were a little lower in the morning by what I am gathering, by what people are telling me. But I am sure it was tough then also the course just really isn't meant to be played in the wind - there is no bump-and-run golf; there is -- can't hit many knock-down shots; can't hold a green. So you need to throw the ball up in the air a little bit at least for some of your shots and the winds can then just eat the ball up, so you really have to be on top of your game and hitting some very solid iron shots to not only get it close to the green, close to the pin, but a lot of times just to get the ball on the putting surface.

JIM FURYK: Yeah, I think -- I think they have a great idea flip-flopping between the Philly and the Pittsburgh areas, I know -- or not real close to Pittsburgh, but we are going to say that, I think. It is about an hour away - two very good golf courses, Waynesborough and Lower Valley, I think it is, Arnie's place. That is my home; that is where I grew up. I grew up probably about a little over an hour from Waynesborough, so I will have a lot of family and a lot of friends and it will be, you know, I think here we get dispersed, although I have a lot of friends here, there is about a dozen of us probably at least in this event, so it is not quite as big a deal as being from here, although there is a lot of people pulling for us and a lot of cheers on the first tee when they call you out from Ponte Vedra Beach, so it is really nice and Pennsylvania is going to be that way too. There is less people from Pennsylvania, I think, on Tour than there are from Ponte Vedra, so it will be nice to hear that also.

JIM FURYK: Well, I played a solid round. I could have got it in better and I could have also -- I made some great saves there on the front side and really kept my round going while I was under par, so, you know, I am happy with the way I played and I didn't particularly play 18 very well, but overall I look at the whole entire day, I played a solid round; put myself in good position and I need to keep playing like that. I think we are all hoping that the wind lays down a little bit that. Was enough punishment for one day - one week.

JIM FURYK: I could hear -- I woke up this morning, really didn't even look outside all that much. On the drive over I saw that it was windy and I could hear the players talking in the locker room, a lot of guys that had already finished by the time I was just getting ready to go warm up, I could hear them talking about the round, how difficult it was playing. So, you know I knew it was going to be a tough day. The course, you know, it definitely was very difficult. I guess when you say fortunate, I feel like -- I don't feel like I was lucky to play the way I did today, but I feel like I played a very good round and I am very happy with it. It is an ominous feeling knowing how the course is going to play because you know you really have to strike some real good golf shots.

JIM FURYK: Well, if it were 20 degrees colder it would be just about there. Can't play in a vest over there too often. I think the weather probably isn't that much different but the golf courses, I don't think this could be any more of an opposite from the British Open. This is like the antiBritish Open and the British Open is the antiTPC at Sawgrass.

JIM FURYK: There wasn't -- there was a lot of times where you really weren't making a lot of full swings or a lot of - a lot of times it is hard to test how you are hitting the ball because you are really creating a lot of shots out there and other than tee balls, but you are on a lot of sidehill lies and trying to hit a low draw into the wind or a high cut and hold it into the wind -- you are always trying to create a shot trying to work it, so you can somehow work with the wind and have it help you a little bit and try to keep the ball on the putting green. It is hard to kind of assess at the end how your day really went because you could really strike some good shots and shoot a 75 or 76 today and, you know, not feel real well about it. Scoring and getting the ball in the hole was the key and I guess that is what playing golf is, so it was -- you had to feel like we have to.

JIM FURYK: It was a little tricky. I think everyone in my group felt like -- well, Davis obviously hit a good shot about six to eight feet. It fooled Billy and I a little bit. I thought the wind was hurting a little bit more than it was. I thought I hit a really good golf shot and still it was easily 30 feet past the pin. I was fooled a little bit by the wind coming into us left and I thought it was more in and a little left. It was actually a little left and just a little bit in - hit the ball just how I wanted, but it ended up a little long.

JIM FURYK: It is definitely nice. It is definitely nice. Even though I have played it 100 times it is such a different hole this week. Just from the standpoint of the greens being that much firmer and faster, so, I -- the greens are a lot bigger the rest of the year for 51 weeks, trust me; a lot softer and you can hit a lot more to the green and still hold the ball on the surface; whereas, here, the outer 15 feet is pretty much worthless; the ball is going to hop in the water.

JIM FURYK: I think there is -- there are definitely a lot of good holes on the golf course and I wouldn't say 17 is the best golf hole on the course but I don't -- that is really -- I don't think that is what its point was. It was there to attract fans and pictures and a lot of attention to the Players Club at Sawgrass and it really has done that worldwide, so I think it's really brought attention to us, to Pete Dye, to the golf course, PGA TOUR and it's really, in that way, I think they accomplished what they wanted to. But it is not a bad hole by any means.