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August 6, 2006

Jim Furyk

GRAND BLANC, MICHIGAN

TODD BUDNICK: We have runner up Jim Furyk, a great run today with your 8 under 64.

JIM FURYK: Yeah, obviously I'm happy with my round. I had a couple opportunities to make some more putts. I think back through the middle of that round I birdied 7, I hit some good putts at 8, 9, didn't go in.

Birdied 10, 11, missed about 6 footer at 12, hit a good putt on it and it didn't go in. And I birdied 13, 14, 15.

So I could not have played any better, basically from about 6 to 15, I played as good as I had and I really wish I could have applied more pressure. I hit two bad shots on the way in. The left shot on 16 from the fairway that didn't allow me to make birdie, and the drive off 18 was bad where I hit it left.

So I shot 8 under and I'm really happy with the way I played today. My game is in good shape. If I have any regrets, I'd like to have had some more opportunities. I was putting well and I didn't give myself very much of an opportunity on 16, 17, 18 to make birdie, and I know I needed a birdie or two to apply a little pressure.

Q. Is it different for guys like Tiger and Vijay, the really long hitters, who can reach the par 5s and a couple of those par 5s, is that fair to say?

JIM FURYK: You know what, I was able to reach all the par 5s myself, just not with the same club. I knocked it pin high on 1 with a 3 wood and knocked it in the bunker on 7 and it was going to get on the green. I hit a hybrid into 13 today. I could have knocked it on probably 15 deep onto 16. Could have got it on the green for sure maybe if I hit it really well, 15 deep into the green.

Yeah, there is, but I think this golf course lends itself to the average length hitter. I know Vijay and Tiger have dominated but I don't think it's because of the length. I think they are just good, some of best players in the world.

I enjoy coming here and I have had a very good record around this place, and I'm not a long player. I think it's more about getting the ball in the fairway and hitting good wedge shots here. You know, if I hit driver and I have 50 yards to the pin and Tiger hits driver and he has 30 yards to the pin, there's not a lot of advantage there, if that makes sense. If we hit driver off the tee and he has 180 and I have 210 or 140 versus 170, that's a big difference.

So I don't think the length is as important on this golf course as it is if you put the ball on the fairway, you're going to have a lot of opportunities with wedges in your hand. If you're a good wedge player, you should be able to shoot a good number here. But it is important to put the ball in the fairway here.

Q. You're going to Medinah where you finished T 8 in '99. You've played very good golf at the Western, Olympia Fields. Talk about short of winning here, your form the last few months has been tremendous. Talk about going to Chicago in the next two weeks and how you feel about your game.

JIM FURYK: Just scoring well, and I do feel good about my game. You know, there was a couple tournaments in there where I've scored pretty well and I finished well and I wasn't really happy with my ball striking. This week, I struck the ball much better. I worked on a few things last week that helped.

Medinah is a very good golf course. It's long, it's tight; the greens are difficult and severe in spots. It's just a good, good, test of golf and we're going to have to be ready to go there.

Q. You say that this golf course is okay if you can get a wedge in your hands; does that include the greens?

JIM FURYK: I had to makeshift on 18 a little bit. You know, it is a tough shot, but I carry my 60 degree wedge doesn't have that much bounce on it. As long as you can talk yourself into making a good swing at it, it's not that hard of a golf shot. It's something I feel like I should get that shot inside six feet, but rarely does it ever happen that way off the green. At least a couple of times a year, I have to hit that shot. I just want to kind of flop it over the fringe going towards the hole and give it a chance. It was a good shot.

Q. As a peer and competitor of Tiger Woods, can you put into perspective, 50 victories in 10 years, that's an average of five wins a year out here, and just what kind of accomplishment that is.

JIM FURYK: It's an amazing accomplishment. He obviously has a knack of being able to finish off golf tournaments. He puts himself in position a lot, and when he gets there, more often than not, he ends up winning the golf tournament.

You know, it's difficult to do. We haven't seen an equal of that in the last, I don't know how many years. Definitely my era hasn't seen it.

He's a tough guy. He's the guy to go out there and beat and it's exciting for me to go out or for the other players to go out and try to apply some pressure. I mean, you want to be trying to beat the best, and it's just very difficult.

Obviously when he gets the lead, he finds a way to he puts the ball in the fairways, he puts the ball on the green, makes some pars and birdies. He's not giving much up. You have to go out there and chase him.

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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