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MERCEDES CHAMPIONSHIPS


January 7, 2004


Jim Furyk


KAPALUA, HAWAII

THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Jim Furyk into the interview room. Thanks for coming by.

JIM FURYK: Appreciate it.

THE MODERATOR: Obviously a tremendous year for you last year, US Open champion, No. 4 on the Money List. I think you won for the sixth straight year. Can you talk about last year and also your goals heading into '04.

JIM FURYK: Last year definitely, like you said, was my best year by far, major championship win, two victories, first time I had done that. You know, it's a special year. I think now I'm trying to, you know -- there's a lot of confidence that I gained from that. But it's a fresh start. It's a new year. No one really cares how well I played last year. Just go out there and try to start over and have another good year.

I've had a month to reflect a little bit about the past year, let that sink in, focus on trying to prepare for this year, what I can improve on, what I needed to work on, especially for me in the last year, what I needed to improve and work on this year to get better.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions.

Q. You have had a pretty good record of consistency over the last six or seven years. How did you get to that point? What specific elements of your game improved and how did you improve them to get there?

JIM FURYK: Well, when I looked at my game early in my career, I felt like when I played well, I gave myself one good chance to win my rookie year, maybe a couple. I felt like I could win on tour if I played very well. But I didn't put myself in position nearly enough, and didn't feel -- I was not a consistent player when I first came out. I made like 17 of 31 cuts. I was either really on, really off. I wanted to work on that.

I think you do that by looking at the weak parts of your game, trying to improve those. There's a saying, you try to take the weakest part of your game, make it your strength. I think when I first got out here, my driving -- I didn't drive the ball all that well. I was very average in length, very average in accuracy. I'm not one of the longest players now, but I think driving the ball has become a strength because I'm very accurate off the tee, finished in the Top 10, 15, 20 in driving accuracy over the last, you know, five, six, seven years.

I made that one part of my game from maybe a little bit of a weakness to a strength. Just trying to be well-rounded throughout my game. Look around, look at the better players on tour, figure out why they were better, why they were more consistent, what do they do better than I do, try to incorporate some of that into my own game, do it my own way.

Q. Any players in particular?

JIM FURYK: I always used to like to play with a lot of the older veterans, try to pick their brains a little bit, and actually more just watch. Whether it was, my rookie year, I played a practice round with Tom Kite and Bruce Lietzke at the Honda, watched the way they went around the golf course, prepared, looked at where the pins were going to be during the tournament. I didn't do a lot of practicing that day, kind of chipped and putted, followed them around a little bit, talked to them. But learned more by example than anything else, pay attention.

Q. You saw them as very consistent players, as well?

JIM FURYK: They were. But just keeping my eye open for the players. At the time I finished 80th on the Money List, 78th on the Money List. Just looking at the guys that were ahead and not really trying to set my goals too short-term, looking ahead well into the future, trying to gradually improve rather than trying to get everything all at once.

Q. So when you took this month to reflect, what were the things that you came up with?

JIM FURYK: I'd be lying a little bit. I took this month basically changing diapers and not sleeping. In the middle of the night when I was staring at the ceiling because I hadn't slept in three weeks, I thought a little bit about golf (laughter).

Go ahead, I'm sorry.

Q. I'm asking, what were the things that you decided you have to work on this year to make a difference?

JIM FURYK: Well, you know, I actually improved my putting a lot last year. '01, '02 were two relatively average at best putting years, and poor at times. I became a lot more consistent. I learned a lot about my alignment, my setup that really benefited, really trying to continue that, trying to even improve more, trying to get better. I learned more about my putting last year than anything else. My game changed a little bit to where I drew the ball predominantly last year, which sort of happened naturally, about a year, year and a half ago. I learned a lot more about that. Still because it's a little bit new, I'm still inquisitive. I'm still asking my dad a lot of questions about drawing the ball, hitting the ball right to left more often, learning about that. Just becoming comfortable.

Q. Is the shift from 80th on the Money List to where you are now, US Open winner, Top 10 consistently every year, from dramatic to where you are now to being the best one or two players in the game? Do you see that progression happening in the next few years?

JIM FURYK: Do I think it's as big a jump or do I possibly see it happening?

Q. Is it a similar process? Is one harder than the other?

JIM FURYK: It is. I think when you first come out and you're 23, I was 23 years old, pretty much fresh out of college, I had one year on the Nike Tour under my belt, you're able to improve at a much more rapid pace. I had a lot to learn. I just didn't have a lot of experience. I could gain by leaps and bounds. It's like going from 100 to 90 to 80. Each step gets a little tougher. Breaking 100 is easier than going to breaking 90 to breaking 80, all of a sudden trying to break 70. Trying to get your handicap down, the lower you get, the harder it is to improve. I think it's like that out here.

I never really look at it as - -- I never judge my improvement or my game on Money List or wins, trying to become the best one or two player in the world. I really just try to pull myself out of the tour and individually just take a look at my game and. I might finish 15th on the Money List this year but still think I improved. I may not, but one year I could finish 10th on the Money List, the other year I could finish 15th, but I could be a lot more confident and feel a lot better about my game finishing 15th on the Money List. I'm just looking for that improvement. As long as I keep getting better, the wins, the Money List spot, the rankings, all that will take care of itself.

Q. Have you had your driver tested?

JIM FURYK: I haven't yet. You're aware, I have a Titleist driver in my bag. They tested it at Houston last year. It was legal. I will have it tested.

Q. What do you think of the whole process?

JIM FURYK: I have a hard time concentrating through one whole page of reading. I did read the handout.

Q. Are you talking about handouts or newspapers?

JIM FURYK: Well, newspapers are impossible. That's way too long. I can pick off little spots that I want to read (smiling).

No, they posted a letter in our locker about the new testing. Originally, you know, I knew it was voluntary, and I thought that was kind of I won't say pointless. It's nice to have. If you care about it, if the manufacturer cares about it, you can have it tested, you can know. Inevitably, if we're trying -- why are we testing? If there's a concern, if we think that there's a manufacturer or a player trying to get away with something, I'm not in a field that believes there are people out there -- I'm not saying it's impossible, but I don't believe people are out there knowing that they're getting away with something, or if you want to call it cheating. I don't think that's the case. But if there is a person or two out there, we're not going to catch them anyway.

But when I read the handout, I have to go back and read the wording, it almost sounded like if the rules staff believed there was a reason to test someone's equipment, they had the right to test it. That's maybe a different issue. Now, if there's a question, if someone wants to go down and say, "This guy, something is going on, gained too much distance in one week, this driver is too hot," if they get tipped off, they can test it, that's an issue. I don't know what constitutes having a good reason to do a test.

Q. That's been a part of the tour regs for a while. If you thought Player X's wedge grooves were goofy, you could go to the rules commission and say --

JIM FURYK: Why did you pull that example up (laughter)?

Yeah, I guess that's always been part of it. I don't know what would constitute. If I wanted to say that, "Jeff, I think your driver is illegal," I go to the rules official and say, "Test it," I guess he now has to test your driver. I don't know if that's the case or not.

If that's the case, we're all professionals. You're not trying to be a pain in the rear end. If there's an issue, I think we test it, get it over with. I like the fact that we're testing. I wasn't real wild about the fact it was voluntary and you couldn't catch that one individual if that were the case. It's kind of a moot point to me because I don't really think that individual is out there. We'll see.

I mean, maybe some manufacturers pressed the envelope enough that maybe a driver or two would fall over, they're getting close. But I don't think people knowingly had that information.

If a driver goes 829, 831, it's not going to make a huge difference. I understand the rule is there in place, the 831 you shouldn't use. It's not like you got away with 20 yards off that number for the year. You got away with a 10th of a yard.

Q. In all the testing you've done on the range, all the drivers they send out, have you ever had one that you were suspicious about?

JIM FURYK: No. I haven't fooled with a lot of drivers, but I've never felt like -- I mean, what I think is good about the rule in one sense is before all the responsibility was up to the manufacturers. Of course, they're going to push the envelope because they want their driver to be the hottest. What's good probably about the way we do it now is that it puts the responsibility on the players. Before I could say, "How the heck was I supposed to know?" If I had one. Now if the guy tests illegal, he's still going to say, "How the heck was I supposed to know? I know it's wrong, I'm disqualified, no problem." Now the responsibility is on you. You can go have it tested. You can clear it up and be done with it.

Q. Is it your understanding that manufacturers, all the drivers they put in tour players' hands, they haven't tested them for COR?

JIM FURYK: I think they will be now because the machine's there. They've been given the blueprint on how to build it. You can bet in the Callaway, Titleist, they all have a couple of machines, they can test them.

Q. In the past there have been tolerances.

JIM FURYK: They used to measure by the thickness of the face knowing that if the face got too thin, it would have too much spring, and it would be illegal. They would measure.

Yeah, they're not -- you're not going to take out every Callaway driver and it's going to test at .825. They're all going to be in the range of 820 to 826. They're trying to keep them so they're not right up there at 829. If one gets a little thin, it's over. They all pointed fingers at each other, I know that (laughter).

Q. Has there been any player buzz about COR testing?

JIM FURYK: Haven't heard a sole talk about it. You know what? I heard JL Lewis mention on the range that it took him 20 minutes to get his tested. The reason was, someone asked -- someone said, "Where did you get your driver tested? I'm going to go do that." He said, "It's up in the parking lot." My question was, "How long did it take?" He said, "20 minutes." That's what I heard. I've heard no buzz, no talking about it.

Q. Can you compare Plantation and Waialae?

JIM FURYK: No, you can't (laughter).

Q. Having won on both. Tough double.

JIM FURYK: Like Augusta and Harbour Town. Totally opposites. That's probably for me the two trips, year in and year out, that are the most difficult transition, going from here over to Waialae, and then playing Augusta and going to Harbour Town. Plantation, they're opposite courses, but this course is so vast, so big, the seventh fairway is 80 yards wide, the greens are huge. You know, these greens are a little slower, grainier, a lot more sloped. That's why they have to be slower. Waialea's are a lot flatter, quicker, a little less grain. The golf course there is very tight. You have to hit the ball very accurately.

Here you're always kind of like wind is right to left, you hang one out to the right, ride the wind, let it eat, hit it as far as you can. At Waialae you can't do that because the fairways are tight, the ball tends to bounce across them. So you are hitting hold shots, cuts right into the wind. Totally different courses, different way to play them.

Obviously, Ernie was on a roll last year, playing very well. Going to be difficult to beat at that time.

Q. Isn't it hard to gear yourself for this course and then go there?

JIM FURYK: Absolutely.

Q. How do you do it?

JIM FURYK: You just have to do it. You just have to do it. It's rare. You don't see a lot of guys play well for both weeks right in a row. I've won both events. I actually have played well. I finished in the Top 10 both of them back to back. But it's tough. I like Waialae a lot. I think that course suits my game very, very well.

This one, I probably wouldn't be that stereotypical guy that plays the course well, but I always have and always enjoyed it. This is a feel course. The more often you can play it, I think the better you'll get around the more course knowledge you have. Over there, you have to control the ball and hit the shots, kind of work the ball against the wind understand be very accurate.

Q. You at home practice some with Vijay.

JIM FURYK: Alongside of him. We actually practiced a lot alongside each other, chatted this winter.

Q. Is there a great Vijay practice story, 10 straight hours or anything that you've witnessed that's interesting?

JIM FURYK: No. I mean, the reputation that follows him is well-deserved. I'll say that. He beats a lot of balls, more so than most people are physically capable of doing. He's a big, strong individual, I can say that. He's 40 now, right?

Q. Yes.

JIM FURYK: To have done that for 20 years and hit that many balls, it's pretty phenomenal that he's still in as great of shape, no aches and pains. I know a lot of people, they would have broken down by now.

Q. He's out there every day at the TPC?

JIM FURYK: He is actually. He is. It's pretty standard. He said he took some time off. I took a couple weeks off where I didn't even unpack my clubs back from Hawaii. He told me that he took some time off. Whether he did or not, I don't know.

He was out there every day hitting balls. You know, I play a little bit more than he does. I probably chip and putt a little bit more than he does. He hits 10 to 20 times the amount of balls I do in the off-season. I physically am not strong enough to do what he does.

Q. Who is the second hardest working man in golf?

JIM FURYK: I don't know. That's a good question. Good question. I pride myself on working hard. I do work hard. I work in a different way than Vijay. We have different ways of preparing ourselves. He definitely gets my vote for the hardest.

Q. What specifically did you learn about your putting this last year? How did you learn it? You discovered it yourself? Did your father say something?

JIM FURYK: I don't think you'll understand. I'm teasing you. I'd have to shoot you afterwards (smiling).

I always knew my bad habit when I was putting is that I aimed left. I've been told that by my father who teaches me, I've been told that when I've gone to different putter makers, alignment aids. I know when I'm putting well, I'm aiming pretty much where I want to go. When I'm putting poorly, I aim left. I've always had a difficult time finding a way to become consistent for longer periods of time.

I normally aim pretty well, then I just slowly work left until I'm putting terrible. I realize what I'm doing, I have to slowly work my way back. It's an ongoing process.

I've just learned a little bit about the putters working with the putter I'm using. It had a much longer line. Visually, optically, I learned a little bit about what my eyes see. I'm very left-eye dominant. I think that has a lot to do with me aiming left personally.

But just putting the puzzle together for me. My father is kind of the opposite. I'm always cutting the ball; he hooks the ball. He's always aimed one; I always aimed the other. We're totally opposite the way we do things. He probably learns a little bit from me and vice versa. I used him, the putter I'm using now, just different things, learning over time. Kind of last year in the May, June area, kind of the light went off, and I started to understand a little bit more about my putting. I still get in bad slumps, bad streaks, but I was able to climb out of them a little bit quicker last year.

Q. Was it a question of designing a specific stance and posture over the ball, angle attack?

JIM FURYK: It's never that simple or else the game would be too easy would be the best way I could put it. It's, yeah, understanding. You can read any putting manual. You want your eyes over the ball, you want to be standing relatively tall, not slumped over. Some guys want their arms bent, some guys want their arms straight. The putter's going to go relatively straight back and straight through. The face is going to stay relatively square throughout the stroke, you know, to different degrees depending on your path. Every manual is going to say something very similar. But it's incorporating that.

For me, it's my swing, my game. A lot of it's been before. I work on everything before I hit the shot rather than the actual. I work on my stroke, I work on my swing, but that's probably 10% of it for me. 90% is actually my grip, my alignment, my posture, just everything I do in the setup beforehand, preshot. I was learning a lot about alignment.

Yeah, there's just a lot of different variables. Kind of fitting all those variables into a puzzle, maybe understanding a little bit better. I can improve a lot in that area. I can improve and learn a lot more. I work on that every day.

Last year I made a sizable jump in my putting game just because I learned a lot about it.

Q. Left-eye dominant is good in golf, isn't it, for a right-hander?

JIM FURYK: I don't know. There's a lot of good players that are right, too. You watch guys that putt, as they line up, they go this way. Those guys are right-eye dominant. The guys that turn this way to look down the line are left-eye dominant. Everyone has a different theory. I used to think left-eye dominant guys would have a bad habit of aiming left and right-eye would aim right. But that's not true.

Q. Is Nicklaus right-eye dominant where he tilts his head?

JIM FURYK: I think he's left, to get his left eye looking down at the ball. I don't know that for a fact. If he was going that way, I think he'd be taking his right eye out of play.

Q. You're taking a long break after Sony, is that right?

JIM FURYK: Probably.

Q. Do you know how long that might be and how that might affect your scheduling?

JIM FURYK: I may take a month off. Last year I played both Hawaii events, skipped Phoenix, skipped Hope, played Pebble, skipped San Diego, and then started up in LA. I'm either going to do that same thing or take a month off, one of those two. Spend a little more time at home.

Q. Are you tired?

JIM FURYK: I am tired, but not from golf. Not from golf. I'm a good tired. I was happy to be.

Q. Parenting tired?

JIM FURYK: A little bit. Hectic. We had a lot of help around the house. But it was just a new -- getting used to the new lifestyle, another child in the house. I forgot how little babies and newborns slept. I forgot all about that actually in 18 months.

But really just to be at home, I was hoping my wife and kids could come out here, spend another two weeks after Sony. Our newborn is just too young. I want to get back quick and spend some time with them before I get going into the year. I get real excited about LA, Match Play, Doral, possibly Honda. That stretch is a real big one. Then you go through the Player's and the Masters, I lump together, Hilton Head. I take a couple weeks off, then I start going through the Texas, Nelson, Colonial, Memorial is a big stretch for me. Westchester and The Open, the Western. By mid summer, after the US Open, I'm ready for some time off again.

Q. Christmas is around the corner.

JIM FURYK: For me it's different lumps. It's tournaments that I've played well in before. It's not that have anything against the events I'm skipping on the West Coast. Torrey Pines is a great golf course. I've played it twice in 10 years, missed the cut twice. That course just eats my lunch. I don't know why. I'm not comfortable there. It's a great, old, classic. Everything I like about golf seems to be there, and I just haven't played well there. So I tend to want to come to the places like here and Waialae, Doral. All the courses I just mentioned are the ones that I played well at.

Q. Are you thrilled to hear that Torrey Pines is getting the US Open in '08?

JIM FURYK: Like I said, it's a wonderful golf course. They love coming out to the west coast and finding Pebble Beach, looking for somewhere else out on the west coach. It will be nice coming out on the west coast in June, not having to wear a tossle hat and three sweaters, I know that.

But, do I play well there? No. I'll probably start playing that event a little bit more just to know it a little bit.

Q. At this level, it seems like there are examples of players who shift from straight -- from a draw to a fade. I'm thinking of Curtis and Freddie earlier in their careers. Is there something unique in your setup or your swing that allowed you to make the transition easier to a draw? Was that something that took a long time to work out? Are you as accurate as you'd like to be with that ball flight?

JIM FURYK: I was just as accurate or more last year than I was the previous three or four years. I was -- I hit the ball farther when I draw it. It wasn't something I consciously tried to do. It was something that 18 to 24 months ago I just started drawing the ball naturally. It was a little bit more I was set up to hit a five-yard cut, I hit a five-yard draw. It was there. So for a while I fought it. If I wanted to play well, I'd let it go and draw a little bit more, go back to the range, work on my cut. I fought it, fought it, fought it for about six months, then said the heck with it. I'm hitting the ball farther, just as straight. It was more natural. It was never a lot of time to get used to.

It was a little bit of time to trust. Maybe there was a trust factor. I can still cut the ball. I like to hit the ball both ways. It wasn't a big transition. I'm learning a little bit more about that swing. It wasn't like -- last year I hit the ball a lot harder, farther, could carry the ball a lot farther more than anything, and hit it just as accurately if not more. I had no issue as far as the transition. But I think that transition came about a little more naturally rather than me taking a cut swing and then all of a sudden just deciding one day I'm going to draw it and start working on it. It was a naturally happening and slow progression.

Q. What about the foot?

JIM FURYK: When I draw the ball, my left foot is square. When I cut the ball, my left foot is open. That's something I've always done. I think you can hit against your left side more without your foot being fanned. You can hit it against the left side, kind of let the club release, draw the ball easier. If you wanted to teach someone to draw, make them put their right foot like duck open, your left foot square. It teaches you to make a good turn on the way back, let that left side and release.

Q. What do you think is the best thing about Michelle playing next week and what do you think is the worst thing?

JIM FURYK: The best thing? The best thing will probably be -- the best thing will be the attention for the golf tournament, the media buzz. I think a little bit of an underrated golf tournament on the tour. I like the golf course. It's an old style. If the wind doesn't blow, it's 85 degrees every day, we're going to shoot good scores there because it's not extremely long. If the wind blows, single digits under par can win the tournament.

I think it's a little underrated. The field has been getting better as years go on, but it doesn't get a lot -- when people go back and look at the wins that I've had on tour, they don't pick out Sony as one of my best wins or anything like that. I've always really liked that golf tournament. I think the media attention, attention for that event.

The worst thing about it is the media attention for that event and having to answer all the questions. It's a Catch-22. I understand why she's invited, she's going to draw attention, she's from Hawaii, it's the Hawaiian Open. Like we talked, it's not going to be like the Annika buzz at Colonial. I don't think Vogue Magazine is showing up. There's still going to be some buzz about it, attention for the tournament. They'll probably do better because of it.

That being said, it was a pain in the rear-end to deal with some of the questions - no one sitting in this room - but media outlets that were there that never covered golf before, asked if Pat Bates was Annika. People would walk by. Nick Price walked by and someone said, "Is that Phil Mickelson?" Kind of answering questions where you had to be careful because you didn't know who you were talking to. They didn't know anything about golf. You weren't comfortable, they weren't comfortable. You know, you can get into a little bit of that with situations.

Q. When you first heard that she had been given an invite to Sony, your initial impression was that it was pretty cool or, oh, man, 14 years old? Which way were you leaning?

JIM FURYK: You know, if I stepped out of the whole picture and tried to step into her shoes, then I'm thinking, "Wow, how cool." Being in my position at 33, I can't imagine what I would have been thinking at 14. I got into a tour event my freshman year at college at 18, I about threw up all over myself at that point. The fact that she can handle that pressure and be able to do it, play with the men at a Canadian event and nationwide event is pretty phenomenal.

I think part of me, looking at it through her eyes, she's got to be on Cloud 9, thinking how cool that is. Looking at it from my perspective, I'm thinking, 14, that's really young.

Q. Annika said it was about challenging herself. Do you get a sense that Michelle wants to play the Sony, Monday qualify for the Sony, because she wants to be out here someday?

JIM FURYK: I think she said that. One of her goals was to play at Augusta. I think she's going to have to be out here if she wants to play at Augusta would be my thought. That could be possibly true. You know, there's differing opinions. One opinion would say, "Hey, go out there, get a lot of experience. There's a lot she can learn. There's players that have so much more experience than her." Like I said before, you can look around and learn a lot from the people you're with.

There's also a school of thought that says, you know, gee, what happens if she goes out and gets beat up real bad? Is it a shot to your confidence? Does it hurt you not to go out there? The old Earl Woods theory of teaching your son to win at every level.

For me, it's hard to imagine. That is a 14-year-old. For me, there were some people that used to think when you came out of college at 22, it was a terrible thing to go to tour school and get your card because you weren't ready, get your brains beat out for a year, lose your confidence. There's some guys you would never hear from again. Had their cards for a year, they were gone.

When I first got my Nike card, that was probably a good thing for me. My second year, people didn't think I was ready, I got my tour card. People were talking, saying, "I don't think he's ready yet." But you're a sponge at that time. You can learn so much. Then again, if you get beat up, go on a roll going south. No one knows what the right train of thought is. They're all opinions, all ideas.

Q. Was the Westchester your event as an amateur?

JIM FURYK: First event was actually the Tucson Open. I was going to school in Tuscan and I Monday qualified. I played in that I think three times before. It was kind of a fluke I got in that year. I qualified three times there and once at Westchester as a junior.

Q. Anything that you can recall being 18 years old and suddenly thrust into this environment that you kind of witness from afar?

JIM FURYK: See, what's strange, now I'm kind of short and straight. When I went to college, I was long and crooked. We played at TPC. It was please let me find the green grass for half the day. I remember being nervous.

I shot I think 76, 75. I mean, those weren't good scores for me because I shot 66 in college events, but, you know what, I felt like I didn't embarrass myself either. I didn't finish dead last. I was actually pretty happy because I was so nervous. I was pretty tight.

Q. Did your pros in any of those events help put you at ease?

JIM FURYK: I played with -- it was a Japanese player named Achikomiki, Akiomaki (ph). He played quite a bit ago. Mike Sullivan. The Japanese player didn't speak a lot of English, so. I talked to Mike a little bit. I was totally intimidated. I was out of my element.

I met Pat Burke at that time. He was a rookie. I met him. He thought I was a rookie on tour. I had no idea who he was, he had no idea who I was. I struck up a conversation with him. I was probably about a foot taller. He said, "How did you get your card? " I said, "I'm an 18-year-old from college." He kind of looked at me.

Yeah, I mean, I had a good time. I just hung out in the locker room, just sat there and watched everyone to see what was going on. Ate in the family room, breakfast, lunch, dinner, any time I could be in there to hang out and see what was going on. I was totally out of my element at that time. But it was a great experience. It was just wonderful to say I was there at the time. I know my whole team wished they were there playing at the time.

Q. Did you go from long to short by dialing back for accuracy? Is that how that happened?

JIM FURYK: Yeah. I mean, I was long for our team. I was long for where I grew up. Probably wasn't long for the tour. But, yeah, by the time I got to the Nike Tour, I was hitting the ball, you know, very average length, hitting the ball a little bit straighter.

I actually learned out here how to hit the ball a little bit farther and stay just as accurate. I think most kids, you get up there, you pound it, you hit seven fairways a day. That just seems like what you're supposed to do. As long as you don't hit it behind trees, out of bounds, you're pretty happy, because you're just taking a rip at it. Once you come out here, you learn to hit some cuts, draws, high shots, low shots, tone it back.

You can't teach length. If I had a kid, when my kids grow up, if they're interested in playing golf, I'm going to teach them like Mr. Love taught Davis. I'm going to teach them to hit it hard. I sure wish I hit it as far as Tiger, Davis and Phil. Whether it's a woman, whether it's a little boy or little girl, teach them to hit it hard because that's the way the game is going. I can always teach them to hit it straight later on.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks for coming by. Good luck this week.

JIM FURYK: Thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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